


Darker Hues

by shatterfry



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: And souffez is canon, Characters Watching Doctor Who, Eleven/River - Freeform, Eleventh Doctor/Clara Oswald - Freeform, Feels I guess, Multi, TenRose - Freeform, Yowzah, also angst, eleventh doctor/river song - Freeform, souffez - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:09:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 53,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26063242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shatterfry/pseuds/shatterfry
Summary: Gathering all the characters to watch Doctor Who and figure out where it all went wrong. Some canon divergence. Sorry for OOC. Also I'm going to make my ships canon bc I'm self-indulgent
Relationships: Amy Pond/Rory Williams, Eleventh Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald, Eleventh Doctor/River Song, Martha Jones/Mickey Smith, Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Twelfth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 14
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There may be slight changes to scripts in places.   
> Also canon ships, so if you don't like it politely skip it.   
> Any comments, requests for episodes and kudos will be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Again. Canon divergence in some places.   
> I do not own Doctor Who, or the scripts, though I may change things a bit.

‘Um. Doc.’   
Her head snapped up like a jack-in-the-box – God, he’d always found those so creepy, with their overdone, painted grin – the other side of the console, and her smile was bright, genuine. ‘Yah. That’s me.’   
He pointed. ‘There’s a light-‘  
‘Don’t go into it.’ Ryan interrupted. ‘You’re too young.’   
Graham glared. ‘Purple, flashing light. Or maybe its red? My eyesight isn’t what it used to be. Yaz, is this red or purple?’   
‘It’s mauve.’ The Doctor slithered under the console and popped up, almost crashing into Yaz, who had started moving over. ‘Sorry, sorry. Soz? Nah. Sorry. I’ve got no spatial awareness. Who needs it!’ She shoved her goggles off her face and into her mess of blonde hair. ‘Right. Mauve. Universal colour for danger, see, cos everything has a receptor for mauve, except for things that don’t know what danger is apart from “is that going to eat me”. It’s an alarm. Maybe false. Last time I got one- hah! My voice has gone weird. Higher. I’m excited! No, no, it’s not that – I’m nervous. Why am I nervous? Because the TARDIS is telling me there’s danger, and that Her fam isn’t safe. (“Are we ever?” Ryan muttered.) Maybe, maybe not. Though you’re my fam, of course, but She’s – what’s mine is hers. My house shares my home. Not House. Urgh. Rambling.’   
‘Not knowing what danger is.’ Yaz said. ‘Must be nice.’   
‘Oi!’ Graham said. ‘It’s fun with the Doc, getting into trouble – keeps us feeling alive! Wouldn’t have it any other way.’   
Yaz grunted, and Ryan shoved in beside them, just as the light began to click, a slow, methodical ticking a little slower than the second, the difference indiscernible to everyone but the Doctor.   
‘Anyone else getting sleepy?’ He asked, head drooping slightly. The Doctor was tapping along to the rhythm, almost unaware she was doing it.   
‘Little bit, yeah.’ Graham said. He wanted to look about, but he was fixated on the bobbing purple light.   
All four dropped painlessly to the floor as the ticking lulled them to sleep. 

*

‘They’re awake.’   
The Doctor peeled open her eyes, finding them stuck together as if she’d had a nine-hour nap, something she hadn’t needed to do since she was a child in the Academy. Maybe Yaz was right. She did need more sleep. But the Universe didn’t wait for her to sleep! Empires could fall in nine hours-  
With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything they’ve lost, they must surely have bad dreams.   
Well. She thought. I am having a very good one right now.  
Above her was a woman – hell in high heels – with crazy, blonde hair, hair in a ponytail, dressed in a typical cleric uniform, all camouflage and guns, strapped to her waist. The Doctor frowned. Then she shot upwards as a stabbing pain seized her head, yelping. Nausea – it took her a few moments to place the horrible sensation – twisted in her stomach, and just as she was panicking, River shoved a bowl rather unceremoniously under her nose.   
‘Sorry.’ She said weakly. Her body was shaking slightly.   
‘We’ve all done it.’ River said lightly. ‘Teleportation – or whatever this is – is hard on the body. You’ve just been yanked through the Vortex without a vessel, other than your own,’ her eyes brightened, ‘Admittedly, gorgeous skin – of course, you’re going to feel creepy.’   
The Doctor screwed her face up. ‘Cheap and nasty.’   
River removed the bowl. Behind her, she could hear Yaz, Graham, and Ryan reacting to it the same way she had, and sympathy curled in her chest. She hoped they would be okay. Humans were somewhat more fragile than Time Lords.   
‘You travel with the Doctor, then?’ River said, offering her a mint, which she took and stuck in her mouth – and almost spat out again at the bitter taste. She didn’t think her wife would appreciate that. Her wife…she twisted her bare hands. She’d lost the ring – not on purpose, but still. Of course, with where River was, they weren’t married yet – or were they? – but still. Shame flushed at her neck.   
‘Yeah. Yeah, I do.’ She said softly. ‘Been brilliant so far. Wait! We’ve all done it? Who else is here?’   
As if she didn’t already know. She could feel him – hear him – the extra heart, thundering in his chest.   
Her past self – two lives ago – was crouched against the white wall, screwdriver buzzing against the floor. Brown hair flopping over his face, he hummed to himself in time with the sonic.   
‘Sweetie.’ River said, voice high with false patience. ‘We’ve got humans here.’   
He spun on his heel to glance over them all briefly. ‘Don’t recognise them.’   
She stood up, shaking her head at the Doctor. ‘You must do, otherwise they wouldn’t be here.’   
He ran a hand through that ridiculous floppy hair, and marched over to study them. ‘Nope!’ He popped the “p” with an air of frazzled ease. ‘They must be from my future. Do you know the Ponds?’  
The Doctor barely had a moment to collect herself before they were being shoved in front of her, and a lump formed in her throat, so thick she could barely breathe. Yaz’s hand was on her arm in an instant, sensing her reaction.   
“The Ponds” Yaz saw, were a man and a woman, in their mid-twenties, the man with scruffy, dirty-blond hair and dressed in blue nurses’ slacks, the woman in a short, denim skirt and a bright red top, hair a bright reddish-ginger. They were clutching at each other.   
The Doctor seemed unable to speak, so Yaz jumped in. ‘Hello. I’m Yazmin Khan. This is Ryan Sinclair, Graham O’Brian and,’ She felt the Doctor’s sweaty palms, and made a split-second decision. ‘Jodie. Jodie Whittaker.’ The name came from nowhere – just popped into her head.   
Jodie grasped at her hands, a little tighter.   
‘Er, hi.’ The nurse Pond said, a little uncertainly.   
‘Yeah, hi. Amy Pond. This is my boyfriend, Rory. The man licking the floor over there is the Doctor. He’ll get us out of here, or at least, he better.’ She glared at him, and he waved a hand over his shoulder. ‘Course, Pond. I can get out of anything.’   
‘How are you all feeling?’ Rory said.   
‘Fine.’ Graham said stoically, and the Doctor couldn’t help but smile. They were tough, her fam. Ryan nodded too. ‘Been better.’   
‘Yeah.’ Yaz said.   
‘Jodie?’   
She swallowed. ‘Yeah, I’m good. Splendid. It would take more than an impromptu zap into somewhere I don’t know but is maybe a game show or a pocket universe to get me down. Splendiferous! Is that a word? It’s a good one…’ She trailed off. ‘The Doctor told me about those. Pocket universes. Not words. He couldn’t teach me about words. He makes them up.’   
‘Humany-wumany.’ Amy said, and grinned. They settled into one of the large grey sofas the Doctor and her Fam had woken up on, Amy tucking her legs close to her, and Rory even closer.   
The room was suddenly flooded with purple light, and everyone pressed their eyes together at the brightness  
‘What’s happening?’ Ryan yelped. They all blinked away the light as two figures stumbled into the room – a man, with closely-cropped brown hair and – blimey, the ears stuck out – the nose too, rather – wearing a slightly too large leather jacket and a plain t-shirt. Clutching at his arm was a pretty young girl in jeans and a t-shirt with a union flag on the chest, and a leather jacket as well, half-zipped up. Her bottle-blonde hair was beautifully curled, hanging about her shoulders. She smiled nervously around at them all.   
‘Is this a space-ship?’ She said. ‘Doctor? I’m Rose Tyler, and this is the Doctor. We’re…travellers.’   
The Doctor curled miserably in on herself a little further. The other Doctor – the one with the bowtie – let out a yell that had everyone cowering, save River, who looked like she could take anything in her stride, and flew up to Rose, and enveloped her in a hug that was just a bit too tight to be cool. Not that he cared about that. He spun her around while she spluttered, and then shoved him off.   
‘Ohh…kay.’ She said slowly. ‘Do I know you?’   
‘I’m the Doctor!’ He said excitedly. ‘Oh, Rose, Rose, Rose. Rose Tyler. I’ve missed you.’ He went as if to hug her again, but she held up her hands to ward him off.   
‘No, you’re not. This is the Doctor.’   
‘Hang on.’ Graham said, but Yaz shot him a look that dared him to say more. He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘There’s three of them?’  
Yaz shrugged.   
‘Rose.’ Leather jacket doctor took her arm. ‘I can do a thing. A Time Lord thing. When I die – well, I don’t. I can sort of cheat death, by changing every cell in my body. I just look a little different by the end of it.’ He eyed the bowtie. ‘A lot different.’  
‘So he’s you.’ Rose said, her voice a touch monotone. ‘You’re him.’ She whirled and smacked him lightly. ‘You died?’   
He grinned at her. ‘Guess so. Turned out all right though! I’m still kicking about, making trouble.’ His smile was delightful – all teeth, wide in his face, and filled with such genuine delight.   
‘Er, right.’ The bowtie Doctor cut in, and he hugged Rose again, kissing her forehead – and she let him, this time. ‘The one with the legs is Amy, the nose is Rory, the scary one is River Song. Then we have Yaz, Graham, Ryan, and Missy.’   
‘Well, it seems I need no introduction then. Pity. I’ve come to enjoy the dramatics. Screaming. Running away.’  
Every single head snapped to the side, to behold the woman there, who drove the end of her umbrella into the floor, and dipped her head in a beautiful curtsey. She was wearing a Victorian-style petticoat and jacket, and ankle boots, with impeccable black leather gloves. Her dark, wavy hair was piled neatly atop her head.   
The Doctor – yellow suspenders – staggered upright, before anyone could think to stop her, and walked up to Missy. The two drew level, the Doc a few inches shorter – something she wasn’t used to.   
‘I’d rather hoped you’d grown out of these. It looked oh so hopeful with your last body.’ She pinged the suspenders, and the Doctor flinched.   
‘Koschei.’ The Doctor murmured, too quietly for the others to hear. She gazed at her, chest a whirlwind. Ah, hope. She’d drowned in it. Hope that she could be good. Without hope, without witness, without reward. Except perhaps their friendship back. But Missy – the Master – had always wanted, needed more than that.   
‘Thete.’ Missy said warily.   
She opened her mouth but found out she had nothing to say. For once. Her mind fizzed, but her mouth refused to answer. So she smacked Missy, hard as she could in her stupid female body, because fuck her for carrying it so well – for carrying everything so well. She might have done it again, but Yaz’s arms were around her, yanking her backwards. Missy’s mouth was wide in fake anguish, and she massaged her cheek.   
Another rush of purple light flooded the room, dumping a few more figures – a tall man with greying hair, dressed like a magician, in a red smoking jacket, a black girl with frizzy hair in a patchy denim jacket, another man with spiky brown hair black hoodie, dark jeans, and a red polo shirt, and – Rose Tyler.   
This Rose was older, her face starting to line, and her hair was no longer dyed, and cut shorter, curled around her face. She had a wedding ring, glittering in the harsh lights over their head, and she looked more serene than her younger version.   
‘Alright, what the hell is this?’ She said loudly. Her voice echoed, and she looked vaguely embarrassed. ‘Sorry. John?’   
The man beside her stepped forward, examined everyone there, and shook his head. ‘Ye-ope.’ He popped the “p” the same way as bowtie had. ‘No idea. Sorry. Huh. Still new to that. Having no idea.’   
‘Uh, I’m Rose Tyler.’ She said. ‘This my husband, John Tyler.’   
He gave an embarrassed little wave.   
‘See! That is how it works!’ Bowtie said pointedly, to Amy and Rory.   
‘Alright.’ Younger Rose butted in, stepping forward. ‘How much older than me are you? Because- No. What about the Doctor?’ She looked genuinely frantic by some perceived failing of hers. ‘I promised you forever!’   
Most of the companions cringed a little at that, the mere existence of each other, and the multiple instances of the Doctor, proving the naivete of such a statement.   
‘Spoilers, I rather think.’ River interjected.   
‘Ooh, yes.’ Bowtie said, waving his hands around at all of them. ‘Temporal paradoxes, and all that. But the universe knows we can travel in time, so she’ll forgive two of you in the same place. Best not to push it, though, she’s terribly overwrought. Highly strung. You go sharing too much information, she just might snap and delete the lot of us.’  
‘Sorry.’ Rory said. ‘But how is the universe a girl, exactly?’   
Amy gave him a fox-like grin, and he ducked his head.   
‘It’s a vessel, ain’t it.’ Graham said absently. ‘We all live in it. And all vessels are girls.’   
‘Not all of us.’ Rose Noble clutched her husband’s hand, and lead him to a seat; the two sat as close as Amy and Rory. ‘Hey.’ She said softly, to the leather jacket Doctor. ‘Nice seeing you again. Never thought I would. Universe loves me.’   
‘You did save her.’ He said brightly. ‘From me. My fantastic Rose.’   
There were tears in her eyes, and she let herself cry them. One of her Doctors was here, and though she wished the other would show up, with his stupid crooked smile and his hair all over the place from the running, and the mostly boundless optimism he carried about him – he would grab her hand, and she never felt safer.   
Purple light lit up the room, and it shuddered.   
‘Right, could be wrong, Doctor.’ The black girl with the cool jacket who had flashed in with magician-doctor, spoke for the first time in a slightly nasally voice. ‘But isn’t that guy there, and like, that guy there, the same man?’   
‘Yes, Bill. Your eyes remain as trustworthy as ever.’ He said slowly. He, of course, knew what was up.   
‘Right. Cool.’  
The new man scrunched up his face as he peered at the audience. He looked exactly like John Tyler, but younger, and he wore a brown suit and a long coat, with red converse. His hair looked like a hedgehog. Beside him was a woman, a bit older than the other companions, with ginger hair. She was wearing a brown trouser suit and a pale blue blouse. The Doctor’s face widened into a grin.   
‘Hello! I’m the Doctor!’ He snapped out his screwdriver, the tip buzzing blue, and scanned them all. Leather, magician, and bowtie did the same, their screwdrivers all varying in shape and size and colour.   
‘Ah.’ Hedgehog Doctor said. ‘Brilliant.’   
‘Well, do share what’s so brilliant with the class, Doctor.’ The woman said impatiently. ‘Stop waving those things about. This isn’t a bloody rave. Or a library! Which you promised me. “Books, Donna! Greatest weapons in the world” Nothing compared to your masterful sense of direction!’  
‘Class.’ The Doctor said, once he was sure she was done. Not making that mistake ever again. ‘This is Donna Noble.’   
The Doctor’s eyes scanned the crowd, and he went still, back going rod-straight. ‘Rose Tyler! He opened his arms, and when she didn’t move, he slowly dropped them. ‘Yes, better not. If you’re from the future it might cause a temporal constriction that ricochets down the timelines and-‘   
She hopped over several empty seats and a few occupied ones to wrap him in a hug, almost tipping him over. Rose might have been crying, and hitting him, and Donna rolled her eyes and came and sat down. Rose and hedgehog Doctor followed. He looked at John, mouthed “how…?” and then decided not to ask.  
Introductions were made.   
‘And this is Missy.’   
‘Hello, dear.’   
Hedgehog’s mouth dropped open. ‘You crazy bastard! I knew you survived. I knew you must’ve. How, though? They took you back through the portal!’   
Missy tapped her nose. Secret. Then she booped the Doctor’s nose. He looked baffled for a moment, but gave her one of Those smiles. Rose almost felt – jealous. Especially when hedgehog all but threw himself at Missy, hugging her and saying he was sorry. It turned the Doctor’s stomach, and she wondered why in Rassilon she was being made to sit through this.   
A sudden clicking got everyone’s attention, and they turned as a section of the wall caved in in a neat rectangle, and a large, flat screen, showing nothing but static, appeared in the gap. It fizzled in black and white and grey for a few more moments, and then a face appeared. A horribly familiar face with short blonde hair, curled and with a little pouffe in the front, dressed in an overlarge white shirt, a red waistcoat, high-waisted black trousers with gold buttons and a wine-red long coat with a pattern of Gallifreyan embroidered in gold and black. She had the collar, two, and the shoulder-pieces, arcing over her head. Every Doctor gathered took in a breath to see her so flagrantly mocking the High Council. They’d always done it, but this…  
She laced her fingers together.   
‘Hiya, all! Ooh, no. Don’t like that. I’ll stick to hello, it’s much better. Hello wifey! Hello Rose. Roses. And the Ponds! Good to see you all again. You’re probably wondering why I scooped you all up from The Timeline and bought you here! Well, all will be crystal clear soon. So no fear! Well, maybe a little.’ She smiled, that familiar, wide-toothed grin, but it didn’t reach her ageless eyes. ‘I bought my slightly-younger self here, too. Now, she knows nothing of all of this – though she’s almost there. I need you to understand, I suppose.’   
‘I don’t get it!’ Amy yelled. ‘Who are you?’   
‘Haven’t you guessed?’ The blonde tossed her head. ‘I’m the Valeyard.’   
The screen cut back to static.   
‘Is she telling the truth?’ Rose demanded of the Doctor, who shrunk into her seat, utterly lost. Definitely her – but – her eyes. It felt like her chest was caving in. She couldn’t tell them – understand what? ‘Who’s the Valeyard? Doctor?’   
They all opened their mouth to reply, but nothing – no answer.   
‘No one?’ Bowtie said miserably. He clasped his hands together. ‘She said she wanted us to understand. So I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.’ He gave the Doctor a reproachful look. ‘I’m sure it can be explained.’  
‘Perhaps a zygon?’ Bill suggested. ‘Those shape-shifting things.’   
‘Maybe.’ No one was convinced.   
‘Doctor?’ They all spun to face her. ‘We probably ought to make a way to tell you all apart. Can’t just call you all the Doctor, can I?’ She gave a weak smile.   
‘Okay, well.’ Leather Doctor jabbed a thumb at his chest. ‘I’m the ninth incarnation of the Doctor, so I’ll be Nine, I guess.’  
‘I’m Ten.’ Hedgehog Doctor butted in. ‘Quite like that.’   
‘Eleven.’ Bowtie said.   
‘Twelve.’ Magician said. Eleven whipped towards him, mouth-flying open. River put her finger over it, and he seemed very affronted by that.   
‘Spoilers.’   
‘Who’s the Valeyard?’ Bill cut in. ‘Because at least the Doctor makes sense. But what even is a valeyard?’  
‘They make wine there.’ Younger Rose said.   
‘The Valeyard.’ Missy said slowly, her eyes starting to glitter as if all her dreams had come true, ‘Is the Doctor. But more like me, and less like himself.’   
‘What does that mean?’ Amy said. ‘What’s she like? Doctor?’   
The screen began to beep, and they all gratefully turned their attention back to it. It was a countdown, placed on a screen ticking down to zero – three, two, one – and then a kind of music started up. The screen changed into a mess of swirling blues, and a cheerful music started up. Woo wee ooh…  
Every Doctor yelped, and scrambled to cover their companions eyes. ‘That’s the-!’ Eleven spluttered.   
‘Time vortex.’ Ten finished, stunned.   
‘It’s not real.’ Yaz muttered. ‘It’s CGI.’   
‘Think so, yeah.’ Ryan chipped in. ‘It’s not the real vortex.’   
The word Dalek flashed across the screen, and a tangible kind of tension yanked everyone’s spine upwards.   
‘Wait- ‘Rose kind of said, but then she fell silent. 

(The Tardis materialises in dimly lit area with carpeting and display cases. A museum.)

ROSE: So what is it? What's wrong?

DOCTOR: Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the Tardis off course.

ROSE: Where are we?

DOCTOR: Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground.

ROSE: And when are we?

DOCTOR: Two thousand and twelve.

(He looks at a display case.)

ROSE: God, that's so close. So I should be twenty six.

(The Doctor finds the light switch, and things become more clear.)

ROSE: Blimey. It's a great big museum.

DOCTOR: An alien museum. Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship.

ROSE: That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed.

DOCTOR: Oh, look at you.

ROSE: What is it?

(The head of a Cyberman.)

DOCTOR: An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old.

ROSE: Is that where the signal's coming from? 

DOCTOR: No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help.

(The Doctor touches the display case and an alarm goes off. Armed guards rush in from all sides and cut them off from the Tardis.)

ROSE: If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A.

There were a few nervous sniggers at that, and Rose looked somewhere between embarrassed and proud. 

[The next shot is in a corridor, which several people are walking down]  
TANNOY: Attention all personnel. Bad Wolf One descending. Bad Wolf One descending.  
(A helicopter has landed. Four armed guards line the corridor as a man and his aides stride out of a doorway.)  
POLKOWSKI: On behalf of all of us, I want to wish you a very happy birthday, sir. And the President called to convey his personal best wishes.  
VAN STATTEN: The President is ten points down. I want him replaced.  
POLKOWSKI: I don't think that's very wise, sir.  
VAN STATTEN: Thank you so much for your opinion. You're fired. Get rid of him.  
POLKOWSKI: What?  
(An armed guard drags Polkowski away.)  
VAN STATTEN: Wipe his memory, put him on the road someplace. Memphis, Minneapolis. Somewhere beginning with M.  
(A woman runs up to take Polkowski's place.)  
VAN STATTEN: So, the next President. What do you think? Republican or Democrat?  
GODDARD: Democrat, sir.  
VAN STATTEN: For what reason?  
GODDARD: They're just so funny, sir?  
‘Ha!’ Donna said. ‘Obama won. Maybe that girl can predict the future.’  
(Van Statten stops.)  
VAN STATTEN: What is your name?  
GODDARD: Goddard, sir. Diana Goddard.  
VAN STATTEN: I like you, Diana Goddard. So, where's the English kid?  
ADAM: Sir! Sir! I bought ten more artefacts at auction, Mister Van Statten.  
VAN STATTEN: Bring 'em on, let me see 'em.  
GODDARD: Sir, with respect, there's something more urgent. We arrested two intruders fifty three floors down. We don't know how they got in.  
VAN STATTEN: I'll tell you how they got in. In-tru-da window. In-tru-da window. That was funny!  
(Obedient laughter.)  
VAN STATTEN: Bring 'em in. Let's see 'em. And tell Simmons I want to visit my little pet. Get to it!  
(Van Statten goes through a doorway. Goddard steps aside to use her headset.)  
GODDARD: Simmons? You'd better give me good news. Is it talking?  
[The scene switches to another room. Something with blue vision is watching a man wearing a protective suit wielding a chainsaw on itself.)

SIMMONS: Not exactly talking, no.  
[Corridor]  
GODDARD: Then what's it doing?  
[Cage]  
SIMMONS: Screaming. Is that any good?

‘Oh, my God.’ Rory said. ‘They’re hurting it!’ 

[The scene switches to an office. Adam is showing his boss the latest purchases.)

ADAM: And this is the last. Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it.  
(The Doctor, Rose and Goddard enter.)  
VAN STATTEN: What does it do?  
ADAM: Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel.  
DOCTOR: I really wouldn't hold it like that.  
GODDARD: Shut it.  
DOCTOR: Really, though, that's wrong.  
ADAM: Is it dangerous?  
DOCTOR: No, it just looks silly.  
(The Doctor reaches for the item, and firing bolts click all around him. Van Stratton hands him the curved, palm sized object.)  
DOCTOR: You just need to be  
(The Doctor strokes the artefact and it makes a note.)  
DOCTOR: Delicate.  
(He plays several different notes.)  
VAN STATTEN: It's a musical instrument.  
DOCTOR: And it's a long way from home.  
VAN STATTEN: Here, let me.  
(Van Statten's touch is harsher. Not nice sounds are produced.)  
DOCTOR: I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision.  
(Van Statten finally gets the hang of it.)  
DOCTOR: Very good. Quite the expert.  
VAN STATTEN: As are you.  
(Van Statton casually tosses it aside, onto the floor.)  
VAN STATTEN: Who exactly are you?  
DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. And who are you?  
VAN STATTEN: Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake.  
DOCTOR: Pretty much sums me up, yeah.  
A few of the companions smirked. ‘Mad man in a blue box.’ Amy murmured fondly.   
VAN STATTEN: The question is, how did you get in? Fifty three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplice. You're quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty.   
ROSE: She's going to smack you if you keep calling her she.  
VAN STATTEN: She's English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend.  
ADAM: This is Mister Henry Van Statten.  
ROSE: And who's he when he's at home?  
ADAM: Mister Van Statten owns the internet.  
ROSE: Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet.  
VAN STATTEN: And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?  
DOCTOR: So you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up.  
VAN STATTEN: And you claim greater knowledge?  
DOCTOR: I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am.  
VAN STATTEN: And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?  
DOCTOR: You tell me.  
VAN STATTEN: The cage contains my one living specimen.  
DOCTOR: And what's that?  
VAN STATTEN: Like you don't know.  
DOCTOR: Show me.  
VAN STATTEN: You want to see it?  
ROSE: Blimey, you can smell the testosterone.  
VAN STATTEN: Goddard, inform the Cage we're heading down. You, English. Look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pet.

[Outside the Cage]  
VAN STATTEN: We've tried everything. The creature has shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside.  
DOCTOR: Inside? Inside what?  
SIMMONS: Welcome back, sir. I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting.  
DOCTOR: Metaltron?  
VAN STATTEN: Thought of it myself. Good, isn't it? Although I'd much to prefer to find out its real name.  
SIMMONS: Here, you'd better put these on. (gauntlets) The last guy that touched it burst into flames.  
DOCTOR: I won't touch it then.  
VAN STATTEN: Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me.  
(The Doctor steps through the heavy door.)  
VAN STATTEN: Don't open that door until we get a result.  
(Van Statten and Goddard go to a desk with monitors on it.)  
‘Bastards!’ Donna said. ‘It could have killed you! Mind you, he’s not as bad as my boss at Demwhicks. He picked his teeth with the coffee stirrers and-  
[Cage]  
(It is dark inside. The door clangs shut and locks.)  
DOCTOR: Look, I'm sorry about this. Mister Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor.  
(A white light blinks next to a blue glow.)  
METALTRON: Doc Tor?  
DOCTOR: Impossible.  
METALTRON: The Doctor?  
(The voice is recognisable immediately. The lights come up to reveal a Dalek, in chains.)  
DALEK: Exterminate! Exterminate!  
(The Doctor hammers on the door in terror.)  
DOCTOR: Let me out!  
DALEK: Exterminate!

Rose gripped the seat of her chair and Nine placed his hand over hers in comfort. Amy and Rory looked befuddled, and River glanced carefully at Eleven. He was shaking, just slightly.  
‘Doctor. Uh, twelve.’ Bill said. ‘It’s one of those…things. When we were being chased by the puddle – you took me to see those.’ 

[Outside the Cage]  
GODDARD: Sir, it's going to kill him.  
VAN STATTEN: It's talking!  
[Cage]  
DALEK: You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!  
(Its gun arm twitches but nothing happens.)  
DOCTOR: It's not working.  
(The Doctor laughs as the Dalek looks at its impotent weapon.)  
DOCTOR: Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?  
DALEK: Keep back!  
(The Doctor stands inches away, staring into its eyepiece.)  
DOCTOR: What for? What're you going to do to me? If you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing.  
[Outside the Cage]  
DOCTOR [on monitor]: What the hell are you here for?  
DALEK [on monitor]: I am waiting for orders.  
[Cage]  
DOCTOR: What does that mean?  
DALEK: I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders.  
DOCTOR: Well you're never going to get any. Not ever.  
DALEK: I demand orders!  
DOCTOR: They're never going to come! Your race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire Dalek race wiped out in one Moment.  
DALEK: You lie!  
DOCTOR: I watched it happen. I made it happen.  
DALEK: You destroyed us?  
DOCTOR: I had no choice.  
DALEK: And what of the Time Lords?  
DOCTOR: Dead. They burnt with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost.  
DALEK: And the coward survived.  
DOCTOR: Oh, and I caught your little signal. Help me. Poor little thing. But there's no one else coming 'cause there's no one else left.  
DALEK: I am alone in the universe.  
DOCTOR: Yep.  
DALEK: So are you. We are the same.  
DOCTOR: We're not the same! I'm not (pause) No, wait. Maybe we are. You're right. Yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. Exterminate.  
(The Doctor pulls a lever on a nearby console and the Dalek is lit up with electricity.)  
DALEK: Have pity!  
DOCTOR: Why should I? You never did.

The TV paused there, despite it clearly not being the end. The companions shuffled in their seats, and Eleven stared determinedly at the floor.   
‘I was angry.’ Ten said finally. ‘Still am, I guess.’ He ran a hand over his hair, and it all sprang back into place.   
‘You were right to be, sweetie.’ River said softly. ‘All of you. I’d have been.’   
‘I’m sorry.’ Donna said. ‘Hard as it is to deal with one of you – I hate you being so alone. No one deserves that.’   
‘It’s my – our – fault though.’ Eleven said forlornly. ‘We ended it. We damned ourselves.’   
‘It’s difficult.’ Older Rose said. ‘Because on the one hand – things should be given second chances. Things are supposed to be able to get better, otherwise what’s the point? And it’s not entirely the Dalek’s fault – if it was genetically engineered to feel nothing but hate, and anger, what else is it supposed to do? But there’s no saving things like that.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Anyways – I’m not saying electrocuting it was right, but I can understand why you treated it differently to every other run-of-the-mill alien. Its personal. And humans so some pretty bad things too. Some of them have no feelings at all. And we blew up a couple of cities to end our war, and it worked. It was horrible, but less people died in that than they would have if the war continued. Not that it was good, and people are still suffering for it, but- we understand.’   
‘But.’ Yaz said. ‘The Dalek didn’t show pity because it couldn’t. The Doctor didn’t show pity because he was angry.’ She looked uncomfortable. ‘There’s a difference, I guess. It did deserve it though. If one of those killed my family, I’d blast it into the atmosphere.’

The TV un-paused. 

[Outside the Cage]  
VAN STATTEN: Get him out.  
[Cage]  
DALEK: Help me!  
(Guards grab the Doctor as he goes to ramp up the voltage again.)  
VAN STATTEN: I saved your life. Now talk to me. Goddamn it, talk to me!  
(Simmons turns off the electricity.)  
DOCTOR: You've got to destroy it!  
(The Doctor is dragged out.)  
VAN STATTEN: The last in the universe. And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek. I am Henry van Statten, now recognise me! Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes.

‘I’d smack him.’ Donna said. ‘So hard he’d see his bloody stars right up close.’ 

[The scene changes to appear in a small, cluttered office. ADAM and Rose are inside, standing sort of awkwardly.]

ADAM: Sorry about the mess. Mister Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods. What do you think that is?  
(Adam gives Rose an inch think piece of metal.)  
ROSE: Er, a lump of metal?   
ADAM: Yeah. Yeah, but I think, well, I'm almost certain, it's from the hull of a spacecraft. The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecraft, aliens, visitors to Earth. They really exist.  
ROSE: That's amazing.  
ADAM: I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe the whole universe is just teeming with life.  
ROSE: I'm gobsmacked, yeah. And you do what, sit here and catalogue it?  
ADAM: Best job in the world.  
ROSE: Imagine if you could get out there. Travel amongst the stars and see it for real.  
ADAM: Yeah, I'd give anything. I don't think it's ever going to happen. Not in our lifetimes.  
ROSE: Oh, you never know. What about all those people who say they've been inside of spaceships and things and talked to aliens?  
ADAM: I think they're nutters.  
ROSE: Yeah, me too. So, how'd you end up here?  
ADAM: Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit.  
ROSE: Oh, right. You're a genius.  
ADAM: Sorry, but yeah. I can't help it. I was born clever. When I was eight, I logged onto the US Defence System. Nearly caused World War Three.  
ROSE: What, and that's funny, is it?  
ADAM: Well, you should've been there just to see them running about. Fantastic!  
ROSE: You sound like the Doctor.  
ADAM: Are you and him?  
ROSE: No, we're just friends.  
ADAM: Good.  
ROSE: Why is it good?  
ADAM: It just is.  
ROSE: So, wouldn't you rather be downstairs? I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mister Van Statten's got a living creature down there.  
ADAM: Yeah. Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch through on the comm. system.  
ROSE: Let's have a look, then.  
ADAM: It doesn't do much, the alien. It's weird. It's kind of useless. It's just like this great big pepper pot.  
(They watch the Dalek screaming as Simmons takes a big drill to its casing.)  
ROSE: It's being tortured! Where's the Doctor?  
ADAM: I don't know.  
ROSE: Take me down there. Now.  
Amy smiled at Rose. Of course, she would feel outrage at that. Of course, she would care – she didn’t know better. The Doctor knew how to pick them. 

DOCTOR: The metal's just battle armour. The real Dalek creature's inside.  
VAN STATTEN: What does it look like?  
DOCTOR: A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate.  
VAN STATTEN: Genetically engineered. By whom?  
DOCTOR: By a genius, Van Statten. By a man who was king of his own little world. You'd like him.  
GODDARD: It's been on Earth for over fifty years. Sold at a private auction, moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?  
DOCTOR: Because I'm here. How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?  
GODDARD: The records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands. Burnt in its crater for three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane.  
DOCTOR: It must have fallen through time. The only survivor.  
GODDARD: You talked about a war?  
DOCTOR: The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race.  
VAN STATTEN: But you survived, too.  
DOCTOR: Not by choice.  
VAN STATTEN: This means that the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth. Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence.

A brief meeting of eyes, and every companion joined forces to punch their respective Doctor in the shoulder.   
‘What was that for?’ Eleven exclaimed, rubbing his arm. ‘Pond!’   
‘Saying you want to die!’ Amy announced. ‘Shut up, I know you’ve died before. I mean properly. I refuse to listen to such nonsense.’   
‘Where would the universe be without the Doctor?’ Rose said, and she grinned at her younger self. ‘Where would any of us be? Wasting away my life in a shop? First thing he said to me, more or less; complaining about how all humans do is work, watch telly, and eat chips. Well, with him, we can see the universe too. So you can just shut up.’ 

[The Doctor is chained in a cage of his own, shirtless, arms spread out]

VAN STATTEN: Now, smile!  
(A painful laser scan runs down the Doctor's body.)  
VAN STATTEN: Two hearts! Binary vascular system. Oh, I am so going to patent this.  
DOCTOR: So that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it.  
VAN STATTEN: This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk. You have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?  
DOCTOR: Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you.  
VAN STATTEN: In that case, I will be true to myself and continue.  
DOCTOR: Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!  
VAN STATTEN: Nothing can escape the Cage.  
(He blasts the Doctor with the laser again.)  
DOCTOR: But it's woken up. It knows I'm here. It's going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!  
(Van Statten runs the laser scan again, and the Doctor screams)

[Outside the Cage]  
BYWATER: Hold it right there.  
ADAM: Level three access. Special clearance from Mister Van Statten.  
[Cage]  
ADAM: Don't get too close.  
(The door closes behind Rose and Adam.)  
ROSE: Hello. Are you in pain? My name's Rose Tyler. I've got a friend, he can help. He's called the Doctor. What's your name?  
DALEK: Yes.  
ROSE: What?  
DALEK: I am in pain. They torture me, but still they fear me. Do you fear me?  
ROSE: No.  
DALEK: I am dying.  
ROSE: No, we can help.  
DALEK: I welcome death. But I am glad that before I die I have met a human who was not afraid.  
ROSE: Isn't there anything I can do?  
DALEK: My race is dead, and I shall die alone.  
(Rose reaches for the Dalek's head.)  
ADAM: Rose, no!  
(A brief touch leaves a golden handprint which quickly fades. The Dalek becomes more animated.)  
DALEK: Genetic material extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!  
(The Dalek breaks its chains. Simmons enters.)  
SIMMONS: What the hell have you done?  
(He goes to the Dalek, carrying his drill. The Dalek raises its sink plunger.)  
SIMMONS: What are you going to do? Sucker me to death? (That is exactly what the Dalek does, placing its suckers on either side of his head. It crumples. The man is dead.)  
[Outside the Cage]  
ROSE: It's killing him! Do something!  
BYWATER: Condition red! Condition red!  
[Doctor's cage]  
GUARD [OC]: I repeat, this is not a drill!  
DOCTOR: Release me if you want to live.  
[Office]  
(The scene in the Cage is on a large wall TV.)  
DOCTOR: You've got to keep it in that cell.  
ROSE [on screen]: Doctor, it's all my fault.  
GUARD [on screen]: I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations.  
DOCTOR: A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat.  
[Outside the Cage]  
(The Dalek places its sucker over the pad, running through the combinations so fast they are a blur.)  
BYWATER: Open fire!  
[Office]  
VAN STATTEN: Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed.  
DOCTOR: Rose, get out of there!  
[Outside the Cage]  
BYWATER: De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?  
(The woman guard obeys.)  
DE MAGGIO: You, with me.  
[Outside the Cage]  
(The Dalek glides up to the wall monitor and smashes it, absorbing the electricity. It's battered armour starts to mend, turning from brown to golden.)  
BYWATER: Abandoning the Cage, sir.  
[Office]  
GODDARD: We're losing power. It's draining the base. Oh, my God. It's draining entire power supplies for the whole of Utah.  
DOCTOR: It's downloading.  
VAN STATTEN: Downloading what?  
GODDARD: Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down.  
DOCTOR: It's not just energy. That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything.  
[Outside the Cage]  
DALEK: The Daleks survive in me!  
(The Dalek uses its weapon on its surroundings.)  
[Office]  
GODDARD: The cameras in the vault have gone down.  
DOCTOR: We've only got emergency power. It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now!  
GODDARD: All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately.  
[Corridor]  
DE MAGGIO: Civilians! Let them through!  
(Rose and Adam, and de Maggio, run through the incoming phalanx of guards.)  
BYWATER: Cover the north wall. Red division, maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter. Blue division argh!  
(The guard dies the traditional extermination death, by turning black and white and having his skeleton exposed. The guards open fire, but the Dalek just absorbs the bullets. It kills another man. More guards come up behind it, so it swivels its eyepiece around then its middle section turns to open fire on them. Back and forward it alternates, killing someone each time.)  
[Office]  
VAN STATTEN: Tell them to stop shooting at it.  
GODDARD: But it's killing them!  
VAN STATTEN: They're dispensable. That Dalek is unique. I don't want a scratch on its bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?  
(There is no one left alive to hear him, and the camera hovers over their bodies. Van Statten realises this, and looks grave for a moment, as if realising the danger they are all in.)  
GODDARD: That's us, right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the Dalek.  
DOCTOR: This museum of yours. Have you got any alien weapons?  
GODDARD: Lots of them, but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them.  
VAN STATTEN: We've got to keep that thing alive. We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there.  
DOCTOR: Leaving everyone trapped with it. Rose is down there. I won't let that happen. Have you got that? It's got to go through this area. What's that?  
GODDARD: Weapons testing.  
DOCTOR: Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it.  
[Staircase]  
ROSE: Stairs! That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck!  
DE MAGGIO: It's coming! Get up!  
(They run a flight and look down on the Dalek.)  
ADAM: Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs.  
DE MAGGIO: Now listen to me. I demand that you return to your cage. If you want to negotiate then I can guarantee that Mister van Statten will be willing to talk. I accept that we imprisoned you and maybe that was wrong, but people have died, and that stops right now. The killing stops. Have you got that? I demand that you surrender. Is that clear?  
(The Dalek does not react to their mockery, its eye swivelling to them, above it. It waits a few more moments as if it is stumped.)  
DALEK: Elevate.  
‘Oh, my god.’ Donna murmured. ‘There’s just – nothing there. We are nothing to it. It sees a problem - a pleading human, a gun, stairs – and it just – solves it.’

(The Dalek glides up the stairs. It was never stuck.)  
ROSE: Oh my God.  
DE MAGGIO: Adam, get her out of here.  
ROSE: Come with us. You can't stop it.  
DE MAGGIO: Someone's got to try. Now get out! Don't look back. Just run.   
(They do, charging down the hallway. They hear the Dalek’s weapon discharge, and a scream. De Maggio is dead)

[Office]  
VAN STATTEN: I thought you were the great expert, Doctor. If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs. Everything needs something.  
DOCTOR: What's the nearest town?  
VAN STATTEN: Salt Lake City.  
DOCTOR: Population?  
VAN STATTEN: One million.  
DOCTOR: All dead. If the Dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs.  
VAN STATTEN: But why would it do that?  
DOCTOR: Because it honestly believes they should die. Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose! The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible.  
[Loading bay]  
DOCTOR [OC]: If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece.  
[Office]  
DOCTOR: That's the weak spot.  
[Loading bay]  
COMMANDER: Thank you, Doctor, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions!  
(His men take cover behind various corners, packing cases, boxes and up on a catwalk with him. Rose and Adam run into view.)  
‘Idiot!’ Rory yelled, startling everyone. He stuck his hands up in frustration.   
‘Faces no one listens to.’ Eleven said solemnly. 

COMMANDER: Hold your fire! You two, get the hell out of there!  
(Rose and Adam run past a guard at the entrance. The Dalek enters, turns and zooms in on Rose's face. They get out of the bay.)  
[Outside the loading bay]  
ROSE: It was looking at me.  
ADAM: Yeah, it wants to slaughter us.  
ROSE: I know, but it was looking right at me.  
ADAM: So? It's just a sort of metal eye thing. It's looking all around.  
ROSE: I don't know. It's like there's something inside, looking at me, like, like it knows me.  
[Loading bay]  
COMMANDER: On my mark. Open fire!  
[Office]  
GODDARD: We've got vision.  
DOCTOR: It wants us to see.  
[Loading bay]  
(The hail of bullets is having no effect. Then the Dalek starts to rise straight up into the air. It zaps the fire alarm and the sprinklers are set off. Once the concrete floor is covered with a layer of water, it fires downwards and electrocutes every wet person on the ground.)  
COMMANDER: Fall back! Fall back!  
(The Dalek exterminates kills him and the rest of his men with another strategic shot, then continues to hang there, water pouring down its shell, crying in the rain.)  
[Office]  
VAN STATTEN: Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place.  
GODDARD: Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out.  
DOCTOR: You said we could seal the vault.  
VAN STATTEN: It was designed to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war. Steel bulkheads  
GODDARD: There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive.  
DOCTOR: We've got emergency power. We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors.  
GODDARD: We'd have to bypass the security codes. That would take a computer genius.  
VAN STATTEN: Good thing you've got me, then.  
DOCTOR: You want to help?   
VAN STATTEN: I don't want to die, Doctor. Simple as that. And nobody knows this software better than me.  
GODDARD: Sir.  
(The Dalek is back on the ground.)  
DALEK [on screen]: I shall speak only to the Doctor.  
DOCTOR: You're going to get rusty.  
DALEK [on screen]: I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me.  
DOCTOR: What's your next trick?  
DALEK [on screen]: I have been searching for the Daleks.  
DOCTOR: Yeah, I saw. downloading the internet. What did you find?  
[Loading bay]  
DALEK: I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes.  
[Office]  
DOCTOR: And?  
DALEK [on screen]: Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?  
DOCTOR: You're just a soldier without commands.  
DALEK [on screen]: Then I shall follow the Primary Order, the Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer.  
DOCTOR: What for? What's the point? Don't you see it's all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for.  
[Loading bay]  
DALEK: Then what should I do?  
[Office]  
DOCTOR: All right, then. If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself.  
[Loading bay]  
DALEK: The Daleks must survive!  
[Office]  
DOCTOR: The Daleks have failed! Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct. Rid the Universe of your filth. Why don't you just die?  
[Loading bay]  
DALEK: You would make a good Dalek.  
The Dalek had to have the final word, the last laugh, and the Doctor is thrown for a moment. Twelve looks at the ground; he’d had that same sentiment extended to him, and the fact it had happened twice made him cold.   
‘Nah.’ Amy said. ‘No, Doctor. You’re nothing like that – thing. Is that why we’re here? To call you out every time you believe stuff like that? I can see why you’re awful alone. You’re an idiot. You’d be a terrible Dalek! A crying child brings you crashing to a halt, remember? A Dalek would never.’ 

[Office]  
(The screen goes blank.)  
DOCTOR: Seal the Vault.  
VAN STATTEN: I can leech power off the ground defences, feed it to the bulkheads. God, it's been years since I had to work this fast.  
DOCTOR: Are you enjoying this?  
GODDARD: Doctor, she's still down there.  
[Staircase]  
(Rose's phone rings.)  
ROSE: This isn't the best time.  
DOCTOR [OC]: Where are you?  
ROSE: Level forty nine.  
[Office]  
DOCTOR: You've got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off up at level forty six.  
[Staircase]  
ROSE: Can't you stop them closing?  
[Office]  
DOCTOR: I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you.  
[Staircase]  
DOCTOR [OC]: Now for God's sake, run.  
(The Dalek is at level fifty one.)  
[Office]  
VAN STATTEN: Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads.  
GODDARD: The Dalek's right behind them.  
[Level 46]  
ROSE: We're nearly there. Give us two seconds.  
[Office]  
VAN STATTEN: Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing. Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads.  
DOCTOR: I'm sorry.  
[Level 46]  
(The Doctor hits Enter. A klaxon sounds and the bulkhead starts to lower.)  
ADAM: Come on!  
(Adam rolls under the bulkhead with eighteen inches to spare.)  
[Office]  
VAN STATTEN: The vault is sealed.  
DOCTOR: Rose, where are you? Rose, did you make it?  
[Level 46]  
ROSE: Sorry, I was a bit slow.  
(The Dalek comes round the corner.)  
ROSE: See you, then, Doctor. It wasn't your fault. Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault.  
[Office]  
ROSE [OC]: And do you know what?  
[Level 46]  
ROSE: I wouldn't have missed it for the world.  
[Office]  
DALEK [OC]: Exterminate!  
(Its laser fired, the sound clearly heard and chilling over the monitor.)

Despite it being apparent that Rose had lived – her sitting there proof of that – every one in the room felt the same rush of anxiety, either in memory of the event, or from uncertainty. It seemed even the Doctor was out of reach – and belief in the Doctor was a thing they all held dear. 

DOCTOR: I killed her.  
VAN STATTEN: I'm sorry.  
DOCTOR: I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry? I could've killed that Dalek in it's cell, but you stopped me.  
VAN STATTEN: It was the prize of my collection!  
DOCTOR: Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Rose? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater.  
VAN STATTEN: Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!  
DOCTOR: You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took her down with you. She was nineteen years old.  
[Level 46]  
ROSE: Go on then, kill me. Why're you doing this?  
DALEK: I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose.  
ROSE: They're all dead because of you.  
DALEK: They are dead because of us.  
ROSE: And now what? What're you waiting for?  
DALEK: I feel your fear.  
ROSE: What do you expect?  
DALEK: Daleks do not fear. Must not fear.  
(The Dalek shoots at either side of the bulkhead door.)  
DALEK: You gave me life. What else have you given me? I am contaminated.  
[Office]  
(Adam enters.)  
DOCTOR: You were quick on your feet, leaving Rose behind.  
ADAM: I'm not the one who sealed the vault!  
DALEK [on screen]: Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler dies.  
DOCTOR: You're alive!  
ROSE [on screen]: Can't get rid of me.  
DOCTOR: I thought you were dead.  
DALEK [on screen]: Open the bulkhead!  
ROSE [on screen]: Don't do it!   
DALEK [on screen]: What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?  
DOCTOR: I killed her once. I can't do it again.  
(He opens the bulkhead again. Rose and the Dalek walk through.)  
VAN STATTEN: What do we do now, you bleeding heart. What the hell do we do?  
ADAM: Kill it when it gets here.  
GODDARD: All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault.  
ADAM: Only the catalogued ones.  
‘Woman you love, Doctor?’ Amy said teasingly to Eleven – and he flushed, of course he did. He was nothing if not predictable. 

[Adam's workshop]  
DOCTOR: Broken. Broken. Hairdryer.  
ADAM: Mister Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day.  
DOCTOR: What, you in a fight? I'd like to see that.  
ADAM: I could do.  
DOCTOR: What're you going to do, throw your A-Levels at 'em? Oh, yes. Lock and load.  
[Lift]  
ROSE: I'm begging you, don't kill them. You didn't kill me.  
DALEK: But why not? Why are you alive? My function is to kill. What am I? What am I?  
[Office]  
ROSE: Don't move. Don't do anything. It's beginning to question itself.  
DALEK: Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?  
VAN STATTEN: I wanted to help you. I just, I don't know. I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you. I wanted you better. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!  
(Van Statten is backed up against the wall.)  
DALEK: Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!  
ROSE: Don't do it! Don't kill him! You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else, not just killing. What else is there? What do you want?  
DALEK: I want freedom.  
(The Doctor is running up the stairs with an almost comically-oversized gun and a grim expression.)  
‘Freedom?’ Bill said. ‘Weird. I thought they couldn’t feel. I dunno, though, if I was stuck in that ugly thing all my life I’d probably want freedom too.’   
(The Dalek blasts a hole in the roof, and a shaft of sunlight streams down straight onto its eyepiece.)  
ROSE: You're out. You made it. I never thought I'd feel the sunlight again.  
DALEK: How does it feel?  
(The Dalek opens its middle and dome sections to reveal the one-eyed mutant within. It holds out a tendril.)  
DOCTOR: Get out of the way. Rose, get out of the way now!  
ROSE: No. I won't let you do this.  
DOCTOR: That thing killed hundreds of people.  
ROSE: It's not the one pointing the gun at me.  
DOCTOR: I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left.  
ROSE: Look at it.  
DOCTOR: What's it doing?  
ROSE: It's the sunlight, that's all it wants.  
DOCTOR: But it can't  
ROSE: It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?  
DOCTOR: I couldn't- I wasn't- Oh, Rose. They're all dead.  
DALEK: Why do we survive?  
DOCTOR: I don't know.  
DALEK: I am the last of the Daleks.  
DOCTOR: You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating.  
DALEK: Into what?  
DOCTOR: Something new. I'm sorry.  
ROSE: Isn't that better?  
DOCTOR: Not for a Dalek.  
DALEK: I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness. Rose, give me orders. Order me to die.  
ROSE: I can't do that.  
DALEK: This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!  
ROSE: Do it.  
DALEK: Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?  
ROSE: Yeah.  
DALEK: So am I. Exterminate.  
(The Dalek shuts its eye. Rose retreats as it closes up its armour again then rises into the air. The balls on its lower body spread out around it creating a forcefield, then it implodes safely.)  
Amy was surprised to find herself wiping away tears – the plight of the Doctor, the beauty of the Dalek dying having felt sunlight; the solidarity of the Doctor and the Dalek, the last of their doomed races – the Dalek gaining emotions in time to die. Feeling fear, for the first time. ‘You’ve got us, Doctor.’ She whispered. ‘You’ve always got your friends.’ 

[Corridor]  
(Van Statten is under guard, wherever they came from.)  
VAN STATTEN: What the hell are you doing?  
GODDARD: Two hundred personnel dead, and all because of you, sir. Take him away, wipe his memory, and leave him by the road someplace.  
VAN STATTEN: You can't do this to me. I am Henry van Statten!  
GODDARD: And by tonight, Henry van Statten will be a homeless, brainless junkie living on the streets of San Diego, Seattle, Sacramento. Someplace beginning with S.  
(It has come full circle with him.)

Museum]  
DOCTOR: A little piece of home. Better than nothing.  
ROSE: Is that the end of it, the Time War?  
DOCTOR: I'm the only one left. I win. How about that?  
ROSE: The Dalek survived. Maybe some of your people did too.  
DOCTOR: I'd know. In here. (his head) Feels like there's no one.  
ROSE: Well then, good thing I'm not going anywhere.  
DOCTOR: Yeah.  
ADAM: We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared. They're closing down the base. Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed.  
ROSE: About time.  
ADAM: I'll have to go back home.  
DOCTOR: Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours.  
ROSE: Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars.  
DOCTOR: Tell him to go and stand outside, then.  
ROSE: He's all on his own, Doctor, and he did help.  
DOCTOR: He left you down there.  
ROSE: So did you.  
ADAM: What're you talking about? We've got to leave.  
DOCTOR: Plus, he's a bit pretty.  
ROSE: I hadn't noticed.  
DOCTOR: On your own head.  
(The Doctor unlocks the Tardis.)  
ADAM: What're you doing? She said cement. She wasn't joking. We're going to get sealed in.  
(The Doctor and Rose go inside the Tardis.)  
ADAM: Doctor? What're you doing standing inside a box? Rose?  
(Adam creeps inside the Tardis, and it dematerialises.)

Rose groaned, putting her head in her hands. Both remembered how awful Adam had been, though perhaps he hadn’t deserved his fate. They hoped they wouldn’t have to watch that.   
On screen, the end-credits rolled, and a small icon appeared. Next Episode. It appeared to be loading, but before it could finish, it cut to black.


	2. Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, but like with extra bits and that stupid twist cut out and more of the TARDIS falling apart, more things – previous companions, etc – leaking as time fractures. Also in this thing Eleven/Clara is explicitly canon (I'm going to make them kiss) so if you don't like that, sorry. But I do, I really ship them. Have fun, and thank you for reading – any reviews will be incredibly helpful and really appreciated. Also, I originally had Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways and the Runaway Bride up, but I deleted them as I wasn't happy with the chapters. They may return, they may not. xD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some changes to canon in this chapter

Younger Rose was clutching at her Doctor's hand, head on his shoulders, and it seemed that though he remained stoic and forward-facing, what he had just seen – himself, from an objective standpoint, angry and full of such visceral, vicious hate like that the Dalek's possessed – had really shaken him. Rose was there. Despite their many faults and failures, the companions the Doctor chose inevitably turned out – good, strong, and supportive. For the most part. As far as tools to stave off unending loneliness went, they were effective.

'Humans becoming Daleks.' Missy said airily. 'Humans killing Daleks. Why, they'll become the new Time Lords, if left unchecked. Power like that is so glorious to behold. And they taste nice. Almost a perfect species, if a little grubby.'

A few dirty looks were cast her way, of course, but most attention was held by Thirteen who, in her attempts to get out of her seats, was clambering over them, stepping on the backs. She wobbled and wavered, hands stuck out, before stepping on her coat and falling flat on her face like one of those ducks that trips over its own wings in its eagerness. River helped her up, not hiding her bemused grin, and Thirteen blushed like a ten-year-old, stuttered something about custard creams, and made her way out. Her wife. Her wife, touch so soft, face so blank beneath the casual concern. All of them – she could feel their watchful eyes on her as she picked her way over to the large table covered in a white cloth and a wide variety of foodstuffs.

'Oh, there's snacks! Great!' Ryan said, and he joined her, and the tension in the air shattered like a balloon popping; Thirteen, Jodie, was thankful for that as her fam joined her, offered her encouraging looks. She squared her shoulders and smiled weakly at them, Ryan barging her shoulder. They all descended, like children at a party.

'Fish custard!' Eleven grabbed the bowl, plate of fish-fingers balanced on top, whirling it around. 'Amelia!'

Plenty of wrinkled noses, but at least Amy managed to grin. That was their thing, after all, disgusting as it was. He ate it more tidily, this time, and though many people refused, Graham actually agreed to try some, a little awkwardly as Eleven beamed at him.

'Hey, I don't have forever left! Got to try these things. Where else am I going to even think of this stuff?' He proclaimed it to be bizarre, but like chips and milk-shake, almost nice.

It wasn't enough to convince anyone else, though; Thirteen stuck to her biscuits, seeming to have an almost indomitable sweet tooth, and Bill ate a bacon sandwich, as did Amy; Rory ate some kind of rice thing – sushi – and the other humans ate mostly normal stuff. Twelve ate what appeared to be blue jelly in a cube state, very quickly, and then his screwdriver was out and he was buzzing around the TV. The other doctors all joined him save Thirteen and Eleven, who scooped custard out of the bowl with his spoon. Missy appeared asleep, hat over her eyes. Probably listening.

The companions – Amy, Rory, Yaz, Ryan, Graham, Thirteen, Donna, both Roses, Martha, and Mickey – had gravitated together, sitting in a circle on the sofas, a sight that would instil fear into the Doctors more than any monster.

'I had a crush on him, that's why.' Martha said. 'I thought I had a chance. But nope! He was smitten. Both hearts totally hooked. I've moved on now, though.'

'Yeah, sorry.' Rose said. She didn't sound it. 'He blew up my job. There was all these plastic things coming alive, and I got caught by all these dummies. He grabbed my hand and told me to run, then dragged me away and made me jobless. Reckon it was all a ploy to get me to go with him. Threw him when I said no.'

'I said no at first too.' Amy said. 'He. Um. He won me over.'

'Then he said it could travel through time.' Rose looked rather embarrassed. 'And…well. My dad died, when I was a baby. I thought… yeah. I shouldn't've. He called me a stupid ape, and he was right to.'

'If we're apes, he is too.' Amy said. 'He looks like us. Yeah. I kissed him, first time he took me home after we fought weeping angels-'

'Yeah!' Martha chipped in. 'He's useless against those, got us stranded in 1969 without the TARDIS-'

'He wasn't happy about that, so he went and got Rory to travel too.'

Purple light flashed in the room again, and all their heads snapped up, and two more figures stumbled out; a petite woman with dark hair, dressed in a tartan shirt and dark blouse patterned with dark purple flowers. Beside her was another version of the Eleventh Doctor, but wearing different clothes – a waistcoat and long purple jacket, his bowtie smaller and purple too. He almost looked – well, like he had a dress sense, save the bowtie of course.

'Oh, my god.' The brunette said, crossing her arms. 'It's the legs.'

'Sorry, sorry.' Eleven dropped her hand, and tapped her shoulders. 'Give me a moment.' And then he was crossing the room, and hugging "the legs" so tightly her bones creaked, murmuring; 'Pond, Pond, Pond…' And she was hugging him back, of course she was.

'Roman!' And Rory too.

'Doctor.' Amy said. 'You. Um. Clothes. You still sort of look like a grandpa who took Willy Wonka's de-aging serum thingy, but…'

'Roman-' Eleven said, worriedly, and stepped backwards. The brunette stepped forward.

'Clara Oswald.' She said. 'Roman's a funny name.'

'It's not. I just- was a Roman- for a bit. And plastic. Long story. It's the Doctor. I'm Rory Williams. This is my wife, Amy Williams.'

Clara looked Amy up and down, and crossed her arms. 'A married couple, Doctor? Blimey, I thought domestics were beyond you.'

'Legs?' Amy said, and she punched Eleven lightly on the shoulder. 'They may be fantastic, but surely you remember more about me but that. My husband is a centurion, remember.'

'Oh, my.' River Song, come up behind them, and she pulled Eleven into a kiss. 'There's two of them! Well, five. The heart does race.'

Now Clara was absolutely doing her dangerous smirk. 'Legs and space hair, and five Doctors. I like it.'

Eleven was thankfully saved from – everything – by trumpets from the television, terrifying the Doctors gathered close to it. A message flashed on it "please sit down" and the clicking counter was back, counting from ten. Everyone scrambled to their seats once more, the new Eleven sat by Clara.

EXT. SPACE

A large ship travels through the stars. It's a working ship, not one for pleasure. On the side are the words "Van Balen Brothers".

INT. SHIP, LIVING QUARTERS

The computer screen tells us it's scanning. One of the men is sleeping on a bunk. Stuck into the screening where he can see it is a torn photo showing the two brothers and their father. The other brother is also sleeping. A third man is sitting at a table polishing equipment. He has a barcode on his throat and his eyes zoom in on his task like a computer. The computer starts to beep.

COMPUTER: Incoming salvage, please validate. Incoming salvage, please validate. Incoming salvage, please validate. Incoming salvage, please validate.

The second man stands and walks to the screen as does the third. The screen reads "Zero Salvage Value".

MAN 2: Rusty garbage. It's not worth lacing up my boots.

MAN 3: Wasting our time. There's no salvage this far out.

MAN 2: You're a lucky boy, Tricky. You're an android - you don't get bored.

TRICKY: (looks over at sleeping man) He won't turn back. Not with half a cargo.

MAN 2: He's not captain. We're equal partners.

TRICKY: Yeah, right. (takes sip of drink)

EXT. SPACE

The TARDIS spins through space

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA is walking around the console, arms crossed. The DOCTOR follows eagerly, trying to persuade her.

'You look like a puppy.' Amy ruffled Eleven's hair. 'And waaaay too needy.'

DOCTOR: You said...

CLARA: I know what I said. I was the one who said it.

DOCTOR: You said it was looking at you funny.

CLARA: I was tired. Overwrought! I didn't mean it. It's an appliance. It does a job.

DOCTOR: It's a pretty cool appliance. (taps on console) We're not talking cheese grater here!

CLARA: You're not getting me to talk to your ship. That's properly bonkers.

'Yeah…hate to bust your bubble.' Amy said. 'But we've met the TARDIS – weird story – and it absolutely is sentient.' 'I found that out the hard way.' Clara muttered apologetically, and mussed up her hair. 'She kept stealing my bedroom until I talked to her.'

DOCTOR: (strokes console) It's OK, it's OK.

CLARA: You're like one of those guys who can't go out with a girl unless his mother approves.

DOCTOR: It's important to me you get along. I could leave you alone together.

'Not the best choice of words, Doc.' Graham chuckled.

CLARA: Now you're creeping me out.

DOCTOR: Take the wheel... not the wheel. I'll make it easy - shut it down to basic mode for you. (starts working switches on the console)

CLARA: Basic! (leans on console next to him)

DOCTOR: I didn't mean- anything. But you're not a Time Lord. And it takes us years of training.

CLARA: What, like learning to drive a car? A car through time and space Do you take a test?

DOCTOR: Yes. You know when you lie awake at three am remembering embarrassing things that happened to you?

CLARA: …yes?

DOCTOR: Yeah.

CLARA: Well, those who can't do, teach.

(changed this a bit cos…the Doctor being randomly sexist is stupid and unexplained.)

'Maybe you should have worn…I don't know, whatever the Time Lord equivalent of a short skirt is, Doctor.' Amy murmured, and gave him a shit-eating grin.

INT. SHIP, LIVING QUARTERS

The TARDIS appears on the computer screen. The first man is now awake and walks over to the others.

MAN: Everyone suit up. It's good salvage. I can smell it.

MAN 2: (eats) It's just trash.

TRICKY: No, look. There's something tasty in the magno-field.

'Tasty!' Ten spluttered. 'She may be slightly battered but she is not salvage. Not yet. Never! I'd never let her be.' 'You are awful at maintenance, dear.'

The first MAN leans forward and presses a spot on the screen.

COMPUTER: Magno-grab ready. Engaging.

EXT. SPACE The large aft doors of the ship open and we see energy massing within.

INT. SHIP, LIVING QUARTERS

MAN: (to MAN 2) Move yourself. The men go to their lockers and put on heavy duty books and cover-alls. The first MAN takes a device from the shelf of a locker and presses the button on top.

EXT. SPACE

A beam shoots out from the ship and encompasses the TARDIS.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM CLARA is smiling, enjoying her lesson. She flips a switch and the TARDIS goes dark.

CLARA: What have I done? The lights start flashing red.

DOCTOR: Er... OK.

The DOCTOR moves to another section of the console and looks at the screen that displays their location. As he looks, the screen starts crackling.

CLARA walks over.

CLARA: Doctor?

DOCTOR: (flicks numerous switches) All the electrical impulses are jammed. I can't get the shields back up. (grunts as pushes on a lever) She's completely vulnerable.

CLARA: I swear I just touched it.

The DOCTOR succeeds in moving the lever. However, sparks fly and the TARDIS lurches, throwing the DOCTOR and CLARA backwards. The DOCTOR makes his way back to the console.

DOCTOR: Magnetic hobble-field. We're flying right into it. Clara, stay by me!

CLARA: (grips side console) Please tell me there's a button you can press to fix this.

DOCTOR: Oh, yes. Big friendly button.

CLARA: You're lying.

DOCTOR: Yep.

CLARA: To stop me freaking out?

DOCTOR: Is it working?

'Yeah, Doctor. That didn't work when I was seven.'

CLARA: Not so much. A device like the one the MAN had on the other ship rolls across the floor.

CLARA picks it up and it burns her hand. She drops it with a gasp. There's another explosion and the DOCTOR is thrown back from the console with a yell.

'They won't be able to keep the TARDIS for long, right?' Rose said. 'I mean, it looks tiny on the outside, not really worth the bother. And its impossible to break into, the Doctor said. And the Doctor wouldn't… well, they're just grunts. They wouldn't know what to do with it anyways.' 'I don't know.' Martha. 'I'm guessing basic mode makes it all rather easy.'

OPENING CREDITS FOR SEASON 7B OF DOCTOR WHO.

INT. SHIP, BAY

The TARDIS is brought deeper into the ship by a series of pincers.

INT. SHIP, VIEWING ROOM

The men watch the ship's progress.

TRICKY: What is it, some kind of escape pod?

'That is a surprisingly accurate description.' Eleven murmured. Clara intertwined their fingers and gave them a squeeze before letting go.

MAN: Come on.

The men leave the room.

INT. SHIP, HOLD

The TARDIS is lying on an angle atop a pile of wires and other pieces of salvage.

'No, no, no!' The distress of the Doctors, seeing their beloved vessel wounded and treated like garbage, was palpable, and it rather upset the companions, too. They were used to the TARDIS as – a home, a safe vessel, something they could run to and rely on to keep them safe. Stoic and always standing, and infallible, even when the Doctor was not. It sort of was an escape pod, carrying him out of the Time War and into the arms of the companions that had helped save him.

MAN 2 is holding a large sledgehammer and the first MAN seems to have a saw of some type.

MAN: Crack it open.

'This'll be interesting.' Donna leaned back in her chair, folded her arms; 'I can't wait to see them fail. Stealing a ship from the sky like that, it's just bad manners.' Ten blinked fondly at her, because of course her manners were perfect.

MAN 2 climbs up to the TARDIS and stomps on the door. He then moves on to the sledgehammer. When that doesn't work, he uses the laser.

MAN 2: It's doing nothing.

MAN: Use the thermo-charge and blast it. (throws device at MAN 2)

MAN 2 sets the device on the TARDIS.

TRICKY: (runs over) No! No! No! Wait... (puts a hand on the TARDIS) It's like she's alive. She's...she's suffering. I can feel it. I can feel it.

'Oh, not him too!' Clara flung out her arms. 'One machine to another, I guess. Seems like everyone knew but me.'

MAN: That's just robot-rant.

MAN 2: No, Gregor, he's right. Looks like there's a broken fuel line.

Ten looked like he would have an aneurysm any moment.

GREGOR: All right. All right, put it back. No salvage today, boys. Open the bay doors.

'You can't just chuck it back like a fish!'

They scramble back down to the floor beside GREGOR. TRICKY spots something.

TRICKY: Wait!

TRICKY walks toward the pile of wires and waves the others over. His eyes zoom in on a pair of legs sticking out.

TRICKY: Somebody's under that thing. The crew were still on board when we dragged her in.

GREGOR: (ushers the others out) We did nothing. If anyone asks, that ship was already busted. You got that? (to TRICKY) And you, make sure you keep your oily-mouth shut.

'Bastards!' Donna. 'Of course they're shirking responsibility – I'd sue the beating hearts from their chests-'

DOCTOR: (sneaks up and whispers) It's rude to whisper. Hi. I'm the Doctor. (shakes MAN 2's hand) And you are...? (reads nametag) Van Baalen and... (shakes GREGOR'S hand) Van Baalen. Van Baalen and Van Baalen. That's going to get confusing later.

GREGOR: We found you drifting.

MAN 2: Your ship was junked-up pretty bad.

'He was in the ship!' Amy yelled. 'The idiocy of some people is astounding. They better not be humans. I'm ashamed.'

DOCTOR: (whispers) What broke my ship was a magno-grab. (holds up device) Found this remote in your pocket. Eh? What are the chances? Outlawed in most galaxies. This little beastie can disable whole vessels unless you have shield oscillators, (slaps forehead) …which I turned off so that Clara could fly (throws remote back and forth in his hands) Damn it! Clara! Where is she? Girl. (spins around) About so high. Feisty. (looks back at TARDIS) She's still on board!

The DOCTOR starts to run for the TARDIS but TRICKY holds him back.

Clara punched the Doctor in the shoulder, and he cringed away. 'Feisty?! Do you have any idea how patronising that is, you stupid alien.' She punched him again.

TRICKY: No, wait, your pod is leaking fuel. If she's still in there, she's dead.

The DOCTOR turns around and looks into the lockers.

DOCTOR: Ah. Respirators. (heads for the lockers)

GREGOR: We can open the doors for a split second, reach in and grab her.

DOCTOR: (grabs respirators and heads back to the TARDIS) Trust me, we can't. Now, please, help me get her out.

TRICKY: I'm telling you, she fried...

GREGOR: Shut it, tin-mouth! (to DOCTOR) What sort of fee are we talking?

DOCTOR: (stands by TARDIS) If you help me get her out, you get the machine, all the scrap, eh?

Stunned silence. Eyes on Eleven. 'You were going to…give up the TARDIS…' Amy said faintly. 'You were going to what?' 'Oh, you lovesick idiot.' Eleven was avoiding the eyes of the other Doctors, staring flabbergasted daggers at him, but caught River's as she spoke. 'Always so sentimental.' 'I obviously wasn't going to actually let them have it.' He said awkwardly. 'As if she would ever let me. I'd have got her back. She knew that.'

MAN 2: It's not worth the risk. Four feet of metal? Nah.

DOCTOR: What if I can guarantee you the best haul you've ever had?

GREGOR: How?

DOCTOR: You trawl through space. Boring work. But you hear things.

GREGOR: We might do. Sometimes.

DOCTOR: Then you must have heard of it. It's mentioned throughout the universe. You must know the stories. The blue box. This blue box. The salvage of a lifetime.

'Really, really seems like you were willing to give it up.' 'I lie all the time, Pond. You know that better than anyone.'

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

The corridor is littered with debris. It is glowing red under emergency lights. Wires are hanging from the ceiling. Some are live and sparking. CLARA is lying under a large piece of metal.

CLARA: (looks around) Doctor? (pushes the piece off her and sits up) Doctor?

CLARA stands and takes a few steps. We can hear the cloister bell in the background. She looks at her hand from where she burned it on the device and sees marks. She blows on it to cool it. She walks down the corridor to a closed door with a red light flashing above it.

CLARA: Red flashing light...means something bad. Get out of here fast? Or possibly, whatever you do, don't open this door.

CLARA ponders a moment before pressing the button to the right of the door. The door opens and there is an explosion.

Rory. 'She's almost worse than you.'

CLARA: Bad decision.

CLARA runs down the corridor to escape the fire. She finds herself in another corridor that was clear of debris. She ducks through another doorway and closes it behind her. Something on the wall catches her eye. It is long scratch marks. She puts her hand up to it and the marks line up with her fingers.

'What the hell do you keep in your TARDIS? Is there a prison in there?' Rose's eyes were wide. 'That would be just like you. Some monster you can't kill or reason with, so you trap it instead. And now it's free.' Eleven didn't answer. The truth, of course, was far worse.

INT. SHIP, HOLD

The men are putting on gear for going within the TARDIS. The DOCTOR and TRICKY are at the lockers while GREGOR and BRAM walk away.

BRAM: Hey, are we really going to risk it? That thing is spewing poison. We should blow it back into space.

GREGOR: Get your gear.

BRAM: Hey! I don't take orders from my kid brother.

GREGOR: Don't try and form sentences, all right? Stick to what you do best. (taps BRAM on the cheek before leaving) BRAM walks back to the lockers, past the DOCTOR who had witnessed the exchange. The DOCTOR watches as TRICKY gets his gear.

DOCTOR: Tell me, since when does an android need a blast suit and a respirator?

BRAM: Flesh coating, same as us. He'd burn up.

TRICKY: No fear, no hate, no pain.

TRICKY puts the respirator over his nose and mouth and follows BRAM.

The DOCTOR puts on his respirator and goes over to the TARDIS. He stands on the ledge and inserts the key.

'Wow.' Amy said abruptly, and Clara glanced back at her, jumping, and then back at the screen, getting it. Eleven looked…surprisingly hot in the respirator, a black mask that covered the lower half of his face. Something about it…that, and the look on his face, one of grim determination, but also the way he looked up, eyes lowered, screamed…well. It was hot. 'Sweetie.' River's voice was sugared. 'Do you still have that thing?'

GREGOR: "Salvage of a lifetime?"

DOCTOR: I feel pretty confident I can deliver on that. There we go.

The DOCTOR pulls the door open, outwards for once. The men slip on their goggles and switch on their torches.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

The DOCTOR enters first. Even though the TARDIS is lying on its side, it is not reflected inside.

GREGOR: I don't get it. I thought she was lying on her side.

DOCTOR: The TARDIS is special. She has her own gravity. I'd explain if I had some charts and a board pen. (heads to console)

TRICKY: It's... it's bigger...

DOCTOR: On the inside. Do you know, I get that a lot.

BRAM: Whoa. Awesome!

DOCTOR: Well put. Whoa and awesome. (flicks a switch and the smoke is pulled through the vents) Safe to breathe.

Everyone removes their respirators.

River, Amy and Clara looked vaguely disappointed as they all did that.

DOCTOR: OK. Now. The last thing I remember, you were right here. (moves to where CLARA had been standing and scans with the sonic) Come on, Clara, talk to me.

BRAM: How big is this baby?

DOCTOR: Picture the biggest ship you've ever seen. Are you picturing it?

BRAM: Yeah.

DOCTOR: Good. Now forget it. This ship is infinite. (walks to console and uses controls)

GREGOR: It could take you hours to find the girl.

DOCTOR: Days! Plus the whole place is toxic. She could be dead by the time I reach her. So. Here's the mission. We're going to find her in one hour.

GREGOR: We? DOCTOR: You're my guys for this.

GREGOR: That wasn't the deal.

DOCTOR: 'Tis now.

GREGOR: What makes you think we'll help? The DOCTOR flips two levers and a countdown starts on the screen.

DOCTOR: I just activated the TARDIS self-destruct system. One hour until this ship blows. BRAM runs for the door but it slams shut.

'The TARDIS does not have a self-destruct button.' Amy chuckled. 'Blowing it up would cancel the universe, and the Time Lords are stupid, but not that brain-dead.' 'Yeah, but, they didn't know that. It's a clever ruse.' Rory poked her. 'Anything to get her back.' He knew the feeling, of course.

DOCTOR: Don't try to leave. The TARDIS is in lockdown. I'll open those doors when Clara's by my side.

BRAM: You crazy lunatic!

DOCTOR: (turns on BRAM) My ship, my rules!

GREGOR: You'll kill us all. And the girl.

DOCTOR: She's going to die if you don't help me. Don't get into a spaceship with a madman.

'And you're doing a worryingly good job at selling lunacy. Remind me never to leave your side for more than ten minutes.' Amy had a bitter taste in her mouth; they all did. Of course, when the Doctor had rescued her from Demon's Run – an experience she really hoped they wouldn't see – she had been proud, had taken comfort, in the knowledge that the Doctor and the Last Centurion were coming for her, that both would go to impressive and unpredictable lengths to get her back. But seeing his desperation, his fear, objectively, not being dependant of it to save her soul…it was terrifying. In that moment the somewhat whimsical declaration that he was just a "madman in a box" had twisted, had made him dangerous. Crazy. Believing he was right, that anything was justified if it returned Clara to his side. But worst of all, a tiny part of her knew that she would do it for Rory, would do her level best to tear the universe asunder if it meant she could get him back, and if not – out of pure spite. After all – and her stomach lurched as she realised exactly what she had done – she had been prepared to kill the Doctor and herself before she lived without her husband, selfish as that was. He had climbed willingly into that bus, but if he hadn't, she might have run him down in a haze of grief. The memory was blurred, but one thing stuck out – the broken, devastated look on the Doctor's face when she'd spat at him "then what is the point of you?" Rationally, she knew the Doctor was part of something far greater than simply keeping her and Rory safe, and hell, she'd signed up for danger when she ran away with him, but she hadn't been at her most lucid.

And then a minute later he had willingly let her kill them both. Apparently, he took things hard. Horror washed over her, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. 'Pond?' Eleven was beside her, hands on her shoulder, and his face was open, and full of concern. She pulled him into a hug, and he made a noise of surprise, but hugged her back.

The men run to the door to try and force it open.

DOCTOR: Didn't anyone ever teach you that? OK. A little gentle persuasion. Say 30 minutes.

The DOCTOR flicks some switches and presses a button. The countdown changes to 30 minutes.

BRAM: She'll die even quicker now!

DOCTOR: We all perform better under pressure. Anybody want to go for 15 minutes? (his finger hovers over the button)

BRAM: Whoa!

GREGOR: Whoa!

DOCTOR: It's your own time you're wasting. Salvage of a lifetime. You meant the ship. I meant Clara.

'That is disgustingly sweet.' Clara wrinkled her nose. 'I don't know whether I should feel flattered or worried you'll attach reins to me.'

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

CLARA hears growling, spots a door and opens it.

INT. TARDIS, STORAGE ROOM

CLARA closes the door behind her. Immediately to her right is the cradle that had been River's, and the Doctor's. She touches the mobile and runs a hand along the edge. Further in the room, she sees a toy TARDIS Amy made as a child.

'You kept it!' Amy squeaked, and a wave of emotion washed over her.

CLARA spins it in the air before putting it down on a table. She picks up a magnifying glass and an umbrella. She is not alone in the room. There is a shadowy figure with glowing red eyes. CLARA sees it and runs from the room.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

The DOCTOR is leading the way with the sonic screwdriver. GREGOR lags in the back with his hand-held scanner.

GREGOR: Report. What's on board this thing?

COMPUTER: 'Dynomorphic generators, conceptual geometer, beam synthesiser, orthogonal engine filters.'

GREGOR: (catches up to the others) Guys, guys, look. I think we should split up. It's our best chance of finding the girl. You know it is.

DOCTOR: (checks watch) Don't touch a thing. The TARDIS will get huffy if you mess.

GREGOR: (to TRICKY) Keep in radio contact, all right?

TRICKY nods and leaves with the DOCTOR.

GREGOR: (to BRAM) Get back to the console. Strip it apart. All right? The brothers split up.

'They can't!' Rose said. 'If they break the console, you're all stuck. Don't they know that! I hope the TARDIS stops them.'

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

CLARA runs through the corridors followed by the same creature. We see a little more of it this time. It is ossified, one of its hands stuck to its face. As she runs from it, she passes the observatory with large telescope and the swimming pool. She runs through an open door.

'There it is! I'd been looking and looking. Of course it appears the one time…' Eleven trails off, looking disgruntled. 'At least it's not in the library anymore.' Amy said teasingly.

INT. TARDIS, LIBRARY

CLARA ducks behind a shelf bearing some small bottles. She looks at her burned hand and can see letters forming. She blows on it and looks up distractedly. She steps forward, stunned.

CLARA: Now that's just showing off.

She sees she is in a large library consisting of five ornate levels. It's actually looks more impressive – at least more fancy – than the library planet from Forest of the Dead/Silence in the Library, but somewhat smaller.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

BRAM re-enters the room. He walks straight up to the console and tries to open one of the panels. He finally succeeds, setting it on the floor.

'That was easy. ' Rose said grumpily. 'The amount of time you spend playing around with it, you think you'd have added some sort of defence mechanism. But of course, you'd never imagine someone would dare try and pull apart the TARDIS.'

We hear voices from the past as he walks around the console.

SUSAN: (V.O.) I made up the name TARDIS from the initials. Time and Relative Dimension in Space.

THIRD DOCTOR: (V.O.) The TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental.

JO: (V.O.) What does that mean?

ELEVENTH DOCTOR: (V.O.) You sexy thing!

IDRIS: (V.O.) See, you do call me that! Is it my name?

ELEVENTH DOCTOR: (V.O.) You bet it's your name!

Clara turned her snicker into a cough, and the tips of Eleven's ears turned pink. 'I'd be jealous but…I can share.' She looked at River.

FOURTH DOCTOR: (V.O.) That's trans-dimensional engineering. A key Time Lord discovery.

NINTH DOCTOR: (V.O.) The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door. Believe me, they've tried.

'Apparently, three salvage workers…'

BRAM makes his way to the level underneath the console.

MARTHA: (V.O.) It's just a box with that room crammed in!

AMY: (V.O.) We are in space!

'Hey! That's me! That's so cool- wait. Does the TARDIS…Raggedy Man, does the TARDIS record things?!' She looked almost scandalised by the idea. Almost.

IAN: (V.O.) It can move anywhere in time and space?

FIFTH DOCTOR: (V.O.) You've changed the desktop theme, haven't you?

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

GREGOR is still scanning as he slowly walks the corridors.

COMPUTER: Everything.

GREGOR: What? Report. (stops)

COMPUTER: Everything. Behind that door.

GREGOR: (faces door) "Everything?"

COMPUTER: Sensor detects everything you could possibly want.

GREGOR pushes the button to the side of the door and it slides open.

INT. TARDIS, ROOM

GREGOR enters the room. In front of him, hanging from the centre, were tendrils that look to be both organic and metallic. On some of them were glowing crystals. It looks almost like a tree. GREGOR'S eyes widen.

COMPUTER: Everything.

GREGOR: I don't understand. Give me a price tag.

COMPUTER: Incalculable.

GREGOR: What?

COMPUTER: More valuable than the total sum of any currency. Living metal. Bespoke engineering. Whatever machine you require, this system will build it.

'So…theoretically,' Rose asked. 'You could make another TARDIS?' 'Yes, I could, but what would be the point? I have one, and it's fine.' Ten seemed very put out by the idea of it not being. 'I was just saying.'

GREGOR puts the computer away. He looks around carefully and edges his way towards one of the crystals. He puts his hands on it and it goes dark. He picks up his laser and begins to cut away at the tendrils. The DOCTOR runs in followed by TRICKY. GREGOR lowers the laser.

DOCTOR: No! No, no. Stop! Please! Don't! Don't touch it. Please. She won't let you touch it. I can feel a TARDIS tantrum coming on. (strokes one of the crystals)

'I think she's been throwing a tantrum for a while, spaceman.'

GREGOR: What the hell is this place?

DOCTOR: Architectural Reconfiguration System. It reconstructs particles according to your needs.

GREGOR: A machine that makes machines?

DOCTOR: Yes. Basically.

GREGOR picks up the laser once again.

TRICKY: What are you doing?

DOCTOR: No, no, don't! Don't! If you walk out of here with that circuit, the TARDIS will try to stop you! Now listen to me. Look, the clock is ticking. We must find Clara!

The DOCTOR reaches out a hand slowly. GREGOR yanks the crystal free. The others go dark for a moment before flickering back on. A high-pitch whine causes the DOCTOR and TRICKY to cover their ears. GREGOR puts the crystal into his pack and heads for the door – or where the door had been.

TRICKY: What the...? (walks over) Where's the door gone?

DOCTOR: Ever see a spaceship get ugly?

'I am actively excited to see them get their comeuppance.' Rose leaned back. 'I hope the TARDIS teaches them a lesson in a really creative and satisfying way. You did warn them.'

TRICKY: This isn't happening. (tries to find a way out)

DOCTOR: She won't relinquish it. Her basic genetic material.

GREGOR: Torch it.

GREGOR throws a device at TRICKY. TRICKY catches it but hesitates.

GREGOR: I said torch it!

TRICKY: Can't you feel it, Gregor? The ship's in torment, like it's a living thing. You can't hurt it.

Amy and Rory knew this; they had seen it. It was easy to forget, but imagining the TARDIS in her human form, suffering like this, as she had before she died – pity stirred within them. The TARDIS was truly an impressive thing, and to see it laid low, and suffering, the cloister bells it's desperate cries for help, or of pain, was just plain wrong. If the salvage team weren't humans, they were horribly similar to them, eager to casually exploit anything they came across with little regard for morality.

GREGOR activates the device and approaches the wall. The door appears and slides open.

GREGOR: What's the matter, TARDIS? Scared to fight me?

And suddenly they were all excited to see the TARDIS fight him. Win. Make him show some respect to the old girl. Oh, that would be positively enjoyable to watch.

GREGOR strides out followed by TRICKY.

The Doctor lingers, and stumbles, bracing a hand against the wall, letting pain overshadow his features. His hearts thunder in his ears, vision fogging for a moment, and then he picks himself up and leaves the room.

'Oh, my god.' Rose's voice was full of concern. 'You're linked to the TARDIS, aren't you? You feel what it feels. So when it suffers…'

INT. TARDIS, LIBRARY

A book on a stand, right out in the open, catches CLARA'S attention and she walks towards it. It is a very ornate, golden book, with the title "The History of the Time War". She opens it and turns to almost the back, then leans in as she finds something interesting .

CLARA: So that's who...

'No!' Eleven said sharply. 'You won't find that book. If you try, you won't even find the library. That book is hidden, and the only if its kind in existence. The TARDIS is forbidden from showing it to anyone, even me. It's only out now because she's injured.' Hopeful eyes turned to Clara, but she shook her head. 'Not telling.'

CLARA hears the growling again and ducks behind a bookshelf. The creature enters the room. CLARA crawls over to another row of shelves. On one of the shelves above her are bottles containing the Encyclopedia Gallifreyae. She peeks out and sees the creature getting closer. She pulls back, knocking one of the bottles loose. Whispers arise from the spilled bottle, sounding like music, and she hastily fans it away. The creature comes closer but then runs past her. Quickly, CLARA runs back out the way she came in.

(making things up now as I like that headcannon where Gallifreyan sounds like music to us, and the Doctor's name is the DW theme song)

'Was that your language?' Donna gasped. 'It's beautiful. Sounds like singing. Music.' 'I suppose. But it isn't music. It's just too complex and layered for your human brains to truly understand, so it just makes it sound musical.' 'Mood. You just killed it.' 'My name is the sum of my life.' Ten said hesitantly. 'It's unpronounceable by human tongue, but there is a shortened version of it – that's what I would be known as by other Gallifreyans. A true name is powerful, and hidden, and sung by the stars. My Gallifreyan name – well, it's like the name of a song. Like Fur Elise is taken to mean a much longer, much more beautiful piece. I suppose that's a way of explaining it. Well, it's nothing like that, really, but still. To understand it, to truly understand me – you'd have to hear the whole thing. And no one will, because that's very dangerous.' 'And what was your Gallifreyan name?' Amy asked. She wasn't really expecting an answer. But. 'Theta Sigma.' Nine said sadly. 'Very loosely. Obviously we don't have Greek letters – but that's the translation. Ish. Really, really ish.'

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

The DOCTOR leads GREGOR and TRICKY through the corridors. They soon end up in the same intersection.

TRICKY: It's the same. It's just the same.

DOCTOR: It's diverting us, spinning a maze around us. We will never reach Clara in time.

GREGOR glares at the DOCTOR and takes the right corridor.

DOCTOR: Hey! Hey!

The DOCTOR and TRICKY follow GREGOR and enter the same spot from the left.

TRICKY: It's just the same, again.

DOCTOR: No point in building walls. You'll just know how to smash them down. She's found other ways of controlling you. Smart bunch, Time Lords. No dress sense, dreadful hats, but smart. If you want to get out of here, let that circuit go. She is creating a labyrinth.

'Just hats?' Amy teased. 'I've seen some of your old outfits.'

TRICKY: (into radio) Bram? Bram? Can you hear me?

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

BRAM opens a section under the console to reveal a shaft with a ladder down one side. Running down the center are glowing wires.

TRICKY: (over radio) Bram, the ship is alive. Get out of there. Bram, don't touch anything.

'See!' Eleven spluttered. 'He gets it and he's been there twenty minutes.'

BRAM: You're just the sweetest thing ever. (enters the shaft)

'Ah, I do so love it when greed leads people to their doom.' Rose caught Nine's eyes. 'He should have listened! Greedy bastard.'

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA finds herself in the console room and smiles. This does not look like the one BRAM was in as its panels are intact.

CLARA: Oh, thank you. (spins around and clasps her hands) Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you! (laughs, runs up to the console and kisses it) Ah! Mwah! (looks around) No! The door? (runs to where the door should be) Where's the door gone now? You can't do this! (yells at TARDIS)

'See!' Clara declared proudly. 'I learned.'

INT. TARDIS, UNDER CONSOLE ROOM

BRAM climbs down the ladder.

TRICKY: (over radio) Bram? You've got to get out of there fast.

BRAM'S back touches the wires and he grunts in pain. He falls to the floor below. He slowly stands up and brushes himself off. He looks up and sees a creature in the corridor. The creature rushes towards him with a growl. It knocks him to the floor.

BRAM screams as he struggles. He soon falls silent and still. Steam rises from the body.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

TRICKY is listening for a response from BRAM. The DOCTOR pulls out the sonic and begins to scan ahead.

TRICKY: Channel's dead. We've got to help him. Gregor, do something. Do something!

GREGOR: It's too late. He's gone! Let's just worry about the salvage!

TRICKY: (shoves GREGOR) You care more about the circuit than you do about him!

The DOCTOR comes back and pulls them apart.

DOCTOR: Your concern for your brother is really touching. The android is more cut up about it than you. Now will you two stop bickering and listen! There is something else down there.

The DOCTOR starts scanning again.

TRICKY: We've got to get out of here! Gregor, give it back. Give it back to her. (reaches for the pack)

GREGOR: What are you doing? (pushes TRICKY against the wall) You're always on the side of the machines!

DOCTOR: Fellas! Multiple life forms on board the TARDIS with us. (backs up until he's level with the others) I am getting a massive signal.

'You mean you didn't know they were there?' Amy. 'What on earth are they then? Things don't just get on the TARDIS.'

TRICKY: Where are they?

DOCTOR: Oh, you're not going to like the answer. About two steps away. One step.

They slowly turn around and yell as they see the creature. This one seems to be two fused together. It reaches for them and growls.

DOCTOR: Gregor, look out! Careful! Gregor! (GREGOR runs down the hall opposite) No! We have to stay together. Come on. Tricky, run! (TRICKY runs) I'm sorry. (runs after TRICKY)

'Apparently no one has ever watched a horror movie!' Rose cried out. 'You don't split up. You especially don't let yourself get separated from the Doctor, the person who knows the ship better than anyone.' Amy snickered. Because, of course, none of the companions had ever wandered off when the Doctor wasn't looking and gotten themselves in danger.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

CLARA makes her way down a red-lit corridor until she finds herself in…

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

…the same console room as before. She points at the entrance and then at the console before leaving again, puzzled.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

CLARA walks away from the console room entrance and down another corridor. She turns a corner and she's in…

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

…the console room again. She runs back out.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

CLARA stops and scratches her head before running down another corridor.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA runs into the room and up the steps.

CLARA: Why are you doing this?

'It seems obvious now.' Clara muttered. 'Course. If you get lost somewhere, the smart thing to do is go to the place you got lost from, and wait to be found. Go TARDIS.'

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

TRICKY and the DOCTOR enter the console room. It is not the one BRAM was in and it is not the one CLARA is in.

TRICKY: Back where we started.

DOCTOR: No. It's an echo. (runs up to the console) The console room is the safest place on the ship. (circles the console) It can replicate itself any number of times. It's trying to protect us.

TRICKY: Because I tried to give back the circuit?

DOCTOR: Team TARDIS. (pats him on the face)

The DOCTOR starts fiddling with the controls, but his legs almost go, and knocks a piece loose. The clatter is overly loud to him, and he clenches his knuckles.

'She's still suffering.' Rose said pityingly.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA is sitting disconsolate as a piece falls from the console.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

TRICKY: Where did... where did that go?

DOCTOR: There's more than one echo room. (sees a shadow move and points) Hey, look, look!

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA walks slowly around the console.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

DOCTOR: The TARDIS has got Clara safe. That was her. That was her there. (kisses his fingers and presses them against the column) Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

'Do you two wanna be alone?' Rose teased.

TRICKY: Why can't we see her?

DOCTOR: It's like a light switch. Two positions. Flickering at super-infinite speeds. We're only together for a brief second.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA backs away slowly. INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

DOCTOR: Shh! INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA gasps.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

The DOCTOR walks slowly around the console.

DOCTOR: I can hear her.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA backs away towards the stairs.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

The DOCTOR listens for CLARA.

'Come on!' Donna urged. 'She's right there, come on-'

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA opens the door and there is another creature there. It runs in and CLARA screams as she runs up to the console.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

The DOCTOR hears the scream.

DOCTOR: She's let it in. She's let it in! (works the controls)

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA keeps the console between herself and the creature. The creature seems to mimic her movements.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM The DOCTOR works different controls.

DOCTOR: Ah... if I can just isolate her position, I can nudge the alternation - reach in and grab her.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA tilts her head and the creature tilts its head.

CLARA: Who are you?

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

COMPUTER: Console room, echo imprint of the original.

The DOCTOR and TRICKY turn around to see GREGOR directly behind them, the computer in his hand.

GREGOR: You're coming with me. I need you to get me out of here. The DOCTOR uses the sonic on the computer.

COMPUTER: Scanning for female human.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

The creature charges at CLARA and she finds herself backed against the wall where the external door would be. She grabs some loose piece of something and lobs it at the creature, to no effect.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

GREGOR walks around with the scanner.

COMPUTER: Scanning for female human.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

The creature slowly approaches CLARA, steam rising from its hand.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

GREGOR walks around with the scanner.

COMPUTER: Unidentified human.

The DOCTOR takes the computer from GREGOR.

DOCTOR: It doesn't know Lancashire.

TRICKY: What?

DOCTOR: It doesn't know sass. Yes! It's found Clara! It's found her. She's right there.

The DOCTOR uses the sonic and an image of CLARA pressed against the wall starts to come through. INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

CLARA screams as the creature comes towards her, shielding her face.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

The DOCTOR puts the sonic into his other hand and pulls CLARA free. She screams as he holds her. She pulls away and spins around, taking deep breaths.

DOCTOR: It's all right. Clara, I'm so, so sorry. Please, please forgive me...

CLARA punches him in the shoulder and walks away.

Giggles at that. Almost all of them had smacked the Doctor at some point. He was just so unbearably frustrating sometimes.

DOCTOR: Ow! (rubs shoulder) OK, so we're not doing hugging, I get that now.

CLARA: What do you keep in here?! Why have you got zombie creatures? Good guys do not have zombie creatures. Rule one. (hits him again) Basic storytelling.

DOCTOR: Not in front of the guests. CLARA looks over and TRICKY gives a little wave.

CLARA: Who are they?

DOCTOR: Friends. Well, people who aren't trying to kill us, so I don't need punching again!

CLARA glares at him and walks off to lean against the rail.

GREGOR: All right, all right - a deal's a deal. You got the girl back. Now cancel the self-destruct.

DOCTOR: Ah. Ah. You know, (claps a hand on GREGOR'S shoulder) I've got to tell you, I won't be needing you in my quiz team. GREGOR: What? DOCTOR: There is no self-destruct. (joke-punches GREGOR) Hey! Hey! Hey! Had you going, though, boys, didn't I? (rubs GREGOR'S head) I just wiggled a few buttons. The old wiggly-button trick. And the face. You've got to do the face. "Save her or we all die." I thought I rushed it a bit, but...

'Told you!' Eleven announced proudly. Clara raised an eyebrow. Totally unimpressed, of course.

TRICKY: So you're telling us we're safe?

DOCTOR: Ish. Apart from the monsters and the TARDIS reinventing the architecture every five minutes. Guys, don't worry, the countdown's a fake. Look, just give me just a second. I'll turn it off. (flicks switches) I only made it look as though the engine was actually exploding. (alarm goes off) Ah. (screen reads Engine Overload) That's not good. OK, don't panic, or maybe panic.

CLARA: Something you want to share with the rest of us?

DOCTOR: It appears the engine is damaged. We're in trouble, Clara. Proper trouble. It needs fixing or we're toast. (runs to the lower level)

CLARA: So now would be a good time to use that big friendly button, right?

CLARA, TRICKY and GREGOR run after him.

DOCTOR: Yeah, sorry, I should have had one built in.

He uses the sonic on one of the panels.

TRICKY: Where are we going? The panel falls inward.

DOCTOR: Detour. (kneels) The centre of the TARDIS.

'Roll credits, kinda.' Bill interrupted. 'When they say the name of the…oh, never mind.'

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

The DOCTOR leads the way with the sonic down a green-lit corridor.

CLARA walks closely behind him followed by GREGOR and TRICKY. A shadow passes the corridor in front of them.

CLARA: Shush! Something's in here.

TRICKY: Those... things. They've followed us.

CLARA: Doctor, what are they? What aren't you telling me?

DOCTOR: Trust me. Some things you don't want to know.

'Yeah, no, Doctor.' Amy poked him. 'That's always a problem with you. Not telling us things, important things, and it always ends badly. We deserve to know things!' But Eleven simply looked at her with such a haunted look, she lost track of what she was about to say. 'Amelia, I'm a Time Lord. I have a certain amount of…foreknowledge. Any amount is dangerous, but as Time Lords are supposedly forbidden to interfere, it doesn't matter. But everything else…if you see or read or know something…you are basically guaranteeing that thing will happen. And if it's bad…Shoot me. I don't tell you everything.'

One of the creatures passes behind them.

GREGOR: They're on the move again!

DOCTOR: Run! Move, move!

They run.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

CLARA runs and stops when she realizes she's lost the others.

CLARA: Doctor? (retraces her steps) Doctor? Again!

CLARA continues on and stops at an intersection.

She spins around, unable to decide which way to go. She looks down at her burned hand and the letters seem a little clearer. She looks up and sees herself stride down the corridor in front of her. CLARA 2: I know what I said. I was the one who said it.

DOCTOR: (V.O.) You said it was looking at you funny.

CLARA turns around to go the other way and sees herself.

CLARA 2: Now you're creeping me out.

CLARA can only stare.

CLARA 2: Please tell me there's a button you can press to fix this?

CLARA 2 is coming towards her. CLARA ducks into a door that slides open, and then dives out a second or so later, hand clamping over her eyes. It's comical.

'What did you see?' Amy said eagerly. 'It was a bedroom. I'm not saying who was in it.'

CLARA backs away and heads down another corridor. She gasps when she sees the DOCTOR.

CLARA: Oh, thank God. Doctor, what's going on? (waves her hand when he doesn't acknowledge her) Say something.

But something is clearly wrong. He is pacing back and forth, and he looks a mess; hair longer and unkempt. As she watches he flickers, and is replaced by another DOCTOR. This one smacks his fist into the wall, again and again, and she cringes at the crack of bone; then the wall goes soft beneath his fist, and he gives up. He looks emptily at shaking hands, and then puts his head in them. CLARA rushes forward, obviously wanting to comfort him, but pauses as he slides down the wall and begins to sob into his hands, his whole body shaking. CLARA backs away, and almost trips over another DOCTOR. This one is in bad shape, shirt torn, covered in burns and cuts. RIVER is with him, talking, but making no sound. He isn't looking at her, but down the hall. She turns down another hallway and there are AMY and RORY, kissing against a wall. CLARA begins to walk towards them, stretching out a hand as if to touch Amy on the shoulder.

'Oh, Doctor.' Rose touched his hand. 'What- what happened?' People died. They all knew that. The Doctor, most of all – he'd lived the longest. But he always seemed to hold himself together, to maintain a strength that meant no one thought about it that much. But he wasn't invincible, and he felt every loss. And there it was, the ugly truth, the side the companions carefully weren't shown. The Doctor, curling in on himself. And of course, River was there. He trusted her. But mostly he didn't have too face her all the time. If she saw the façade crack, no matter; she wasn't totally relying on him to keep her safe. 'Manhatten.' River murmured, and Amy felt her heart twist.

DOCTOR: Clara, stop. (points) Don't touch them. There's a rupture in time somewhere onboard the ship. A small tear in the fabric of the continuum. It must have happened when the TARDIS was pulled in by the salvage vessel. (takes her hand and pulls her to him) The TARDIS is leaking.

CLARA: Leaking what?

DOCTOR: The past. Everything I've done, everything I've said. My history. It's not real, it's a memory.

CLARA looks at him, pity on her face. They stop when they see a creature in front of them.

CLARA: (whispers) What about this?

DOCTOR: (whispers) If you're giving me the option, I'd say, "This one's real."

The DOCTOR pushes CLARA ahead of him as they run away. The creature chases them.

DOCTOR: She's right onto us.

CLARA: (stops) She?

DOCTOR: Clara, don't ask me anymore.

The DOCTOR yanks her by the hand and pulls her into a small niche to the side. They press themselves against the wall behind a girder as the creature pauses.

On the opposite side, PAST DOCTOR and PAST CLARA walk down the corridor.

PAST DOCTOR: But you don't run out on the people you care about. Wish I was more like that. You know, the thing about a time machine, you can run away all you like and still be home in time for tea, so what do you say? Anywhere. All of time and space, right outside those doors.

'Doctor.' Amy said calmly. 'When in the hell have you ever walked out on someone you cared about? That is not like you at all. You stick around until you win, or die. Sometimes both.

PAST CLARA: Does this work?

PAST DOCTOR: Eh?

PAST CLARA: Is this actually what you do? Do you just crook your finger and people just jump in your snog box and fly away?

PAST DOCTOR: It is not a snog box.

PAST CLARA: I'll be the judge of that.

There were a few laughs at that, given that most of the audience had either kissed the Doctor, or was the Doctor. He was just…snoggable.

The creature follows the past selves. The DOCTOR and CLARA step out from their hiding place. There is a groaning sound and the DOCTOR looks up at the ceiling.

CLARA: What's that noise?

DOCTOR: We're right under the primary fuel cells.

CLARA: So? So? So what?

DOCTOR: So... so the fuel has spilled out. So the rods will be exposed. Means they'll cool...

CLARA: And start to warp.

DOCTOR: And start to warp. Maybe even...

CLARA: No. You don't say it. Don't you dare say it.

DOCTOR: Maybe even break apart.

A large rod shoots down at an angle directly in front of them. They back away.

CLARA: Run?

DOCTOR: I'm liking how you're thinking.

CLARA: Yeah. They turn and run down the corridor behind them, ducking and dodging rods as they shoot through the walls.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR We hear a groan of pain and see that one of the monsters has been impaled through the shoulder by one of the rods. It is writhing and struggling. GREGOR is scanning it with his COMPUTER.

DOCTOR: No, wait! Stop that-

A growl behind them. CLARA takes his hand, and they all run down the corridor.

TRICKY: It was in pain. We should've…

DOCTOR: I know. But we can't go back there.

CLARA: Where are we?

DOCTOR: Power source. Right, you lot, wait here. I'll check it's safe. We can only survive for a minute or two in there.

CLARA: (taps the DOCTOR on the shoulder) Um...what happens if we stay longer?

DOCTOR: Our cells will liquefy and our skin will start to burn.

CLARA: I always feel so good after we've spoken.

Snickers at that. The Doctor's beside manner was notoriously awful.

DOCTOR: Marvellous. Keep this door shut. (opens door)

CLARA: That will not be a problem. The door closes behind him.

INT. TARDIS, POWER ROOM

The DOCTOR looks around and takes a few breaths as he gets his bearings in the heat-filled room.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

CLARA leans against the wall by the door. GREGOR is diagonally across the corridor from her and TRICKY is leaning against the wall and little ways down from CLARA. GREGOR holds the computer up and it scans CLARA. COMPUTER: Lancashire. Sass.

GREGOR: Intelligent sensor.

The howling of the creature can still be heard. TRICKY winces.

TRICKY: I have to go back. I have to do something.

GREGOR: Don't be stupid.

TRICKY: You might be able to watch things suffer, but I can't.

GREGOR: It's a…thing! It tried to kill us. It hasn't suffered enough.

The howling stops.

CLARA: Blissful silence. Either it died…or freed itself and is now creeping towards us.

INT. TARDIS, POWER ROOM

The DOCTOR runs across the catwalk to the far door while using his sonic. It unlocks and the DOCTOR tugs on it and it finally opens. He looks up.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR.

They have bunched together at the door, eyes on the corridors around them.

CLARA: Probably dead. Right?

It's not. A single, glowing eye can be seen; it is the monster with one hand covering its face, indeed free. It walks slowly, as if injured, which of course it is.

CLARA pounds on the door.

CLARA: Doctor!

INT. TARDIS, POWER ROOM

The DOCTOR runs across the catwalk and opens the door for them.

DOCTOR: OK, move, move, move.

The others stop and look up as the DOCTOR moves along the rail. We see what powers the TARDIS.

DOCTOR: The Eye of Harmony. Exploding star in the act of becoming a black hole. Time Lord engineering - you rip the star from its orbit, suspend it in a permanent state of decay. This way. (motions with his arm) Quickly.

TRICKY and GREGOR follow the DOCTOR. GREGOR is helping his brother across. CLARA stares at the Eye of Harmony a little longer. The DOCTOR opens the far door and a creature is there waiting for them. GREGOR helps him close it. The DOCTOR runs back to the other side and CLARA and TRICKY opens the door – but the creature is there. They slam it shut.

GREGOR: There's no way out. We're trapped.

The DOCTOR pauses in the middle and CLARA confronts him.

CLARA: You're going to tell me now! If we're going to die in here, tell me what they are. (grabs his arm)

DOCTOR: I can't.

CLARA: Tell me! What's the use in secrets now?

DOCTOR: (grips her head) Secrets protect us. Secrets make us safe.

CLARA: (pushes his hands away) We're not safe!

GREGOR uses the scanner on one of the creatures as it pounds on the door.

COMPUTER: Sensor detects animal DNA, human core element. Calculating data. Calculating data.

The DOCTOR hears and runs over.

DOCTOR: No, no. Turn it off!

COMPUTER: Lancashire. Sass. Identifiable substance. Clara.

The DOCTOR turns slowly to look at CLARA. GREGOR and TRICKY head back to the other door.

CLARA: That's me. (takes a few steps towards the DOCTOR)

DOCTOR: I'm so sorry.

CLARA: (looks through the window) It's me. I burn in here.

'Oh, my god.' Amy murmured. 'And…now you know about it…'

DOCTOR: It isn't just the past leaking out through the time rift. It's the future. Listen, (holds her face) I brought you here to keep you safe, but it happened again. You died again.

CLARA: What do you mean, again?

The DOCTOR runs a hand over his face and hair, and makes a connection between the movement and the creature that has his hand fused to his face. The DOCTOR takes his hand from his face and stares at it. TRICKY and GREGOR stand side-by-side at the door. One of the creatures is made of two joined together at the side.

DOCTOR: Hang on. As long as we interrupt the timeline, this can't happen. (runs to the other door and pushes the brother apart) Don't touch each other, otherwise the future will reassert itself.

Of course. Of course the Doctor would die, cells liquifying and body burning, with one hand on his face – of course he would die full of shame.

The DOCTOR pulls them to the centre of the catwalk as the CLARA creature pushes through the door. One grabs GREGOR'S pack. The DOCTOR helps TRICKY.

DOCTOR: Gregor! Gregor, let go of the circuit.

TRICKY: Just let it go!

DOCTOR: Gregor!

TRICKY: Gregor!

GREGOR slips out of the pack and backs away to the others.

TRICKY takes a swing at the creature and it falls over the rail. They rush towards the door and pull away when the "double" creature appears at the door. They run towards the other and the last creature punches a hand through the window. They group in the middle of the catwalk.

'Yes!' Donna cheered. 'Honestly I think we could all benefit from punching aliens more often. They deserve it.'

DOCTOR: OK. Er... er...

TRICKY goes at the creature with a crowbar, When it's down low, he kicks it off the rail. It falls and TRICKY nearly falls off himself, holding onto the ledge. GREGOR goes to help him.

GREGOR: Tricky!

The DOCTOR and CLARA look back.

DOCTOR: Don't touch him, or time will reassert itself.

The DOCTOR is pale and shaking.

CLARA: Doctor? What's wrong?

DOCTOR: I'm changing time. That's not allowed. They want to kill us to prevent themselves being created – it's a paradox waiting to happen. Paradoxes are poison to Time Lords.

GREGOR helps TRICKY back onto the catwalk but they soon become fused together and turn into the creature. They come after the DOCTOR and CLARA who run out the other door and close it behind them.

INT. TARDIS, CORRIDOR

The DOCTOR sonics the lock on the door.

DOCTOR: The engine room. The heart of the TARDIS. The DOCTOR takes CLARA by the hand and leads her through another door.

INT. TARDIS, ENGINE ROOM They go through the door and nearly fall off a cliff ledge.

CLARA: We're outside.

DOCTOR: No, we're still in the TARDIS.

CLARA: There's no way across.

DOCTOR: No. OK, you're right.

CLARA: So what do we do? Time for a plan. Do you have a plan?

DOCTOR: Well, no. No plan, sorry.

CLARA: If you don't have a plan, we're dead!

DOCTOR: Yes, we are. So just tell me.

CLARA: Tell you what? DOCTOR: Well, there's no point now, we're about to die, so just tell me who you are.

CLARA: You know who I am.

DOCTOR: No, I don't! I look at you every single day, and I don't understand a thing about you. Why do I keep running into you? (heads for the door)

CLARA: Doctor, you invited me - you said...

DOCTOR: (walks back) Before that. I met you in the Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck, and she died saving my life. And she was you.

CLARA: She really wasn't.

DOCTOR: Victorian London. There was a governess who was a barmaid, and we fought the Great Intelligence together, she died - and she was you.

CLARA: You're scaring me.

DOCTOR: What are you, eh? Are you a trick, a trap?

There it was. The damage. The paranoia. After all, the last time he'd picked a companion, she'd been used – against her will, sure, but still used – been manipulated into a mystery to lure him to a trap that would keep him for all eternity, that officially marked him as "the most dangerous thing in the universe". Only dangerous if you were intending to destroy, enslave and burn planets, but all the same. He'd been played for a fool, been embarrassed, and led to believe he was a detriment to the universe, and worse of all they'd all been taken in by it. The human race. Easy for them to focus on the negative, the people he couldn't save, than the millions he did. Easy for him to be taken in by it. But…Clara. With Clara it was different. She was real. She held him to a standard based on what she had seen him do and she was there to have fun, not fulfil a childhood dream; she'd have a life before him and if he could possibly manage it, she'd have a life after him. With River, with Amy, two people who'd had their entire lives evolving around him, they'd both had years to build him up to an impossible status in their minds, and the real him had crumbled under the pressure of it. Clara would never be taken in by that. She knew him better. Knew him as just a man, different from human but not really more than, and all she expected from him was that he tried. And he was afraid – so afraid that she would turn out like Amy. A mystery sprinkled throughout his timeline, cherry-picked for him, with his death or eternal imprisonment or heartbreak waiting at the end.

CLARA: I don't know what you're talking about.

CLARA backs away from the DOCTOR and almost falls off the ledge. The DOCTOR grips her in a huge hug. She grips him back and gasps.

DOCTOR: All right. All right. (ends the hug) You really don't, do you?

CLARA: I think I'm more scared of you right now than anything else on that TARDIS.

DOCTOR: You're just Clara, aren't you?

The DOCTOR laughs as he touches CLARA'S face and pinches her cheeks. He takes her in another hug.

CLARA: OK. I don't know what the hell this is about, but the hug is really nice.

DOCTOR: (ends hug) We're not going to die here. This isn't real! It's a snarl. (throws a rock over the edge)

CLARA: What?

DOCTOR: What does a wounded animal do? It tries to scare everyone away. We're close to the engine. The TARDIS is snarling at us, trying to frighten us off. We need to jump.

CLARA: You're insane.

'It took you that long to realise that.' Donna scoffed playfully.

DOCTOR: We'll cross a portal to the engine.

The DOCTOR claps his hands and he and CLARA back up to the door.

CLARA: How can you be so sure?

DOCTOR: Well, I can't.

CLARA: OK, well, that's watertight.

DOCTOR: (wags his finger at her) Hey, now, Clara, I've piloted this ship for over 900 years. Trust me this one time, please. (she arches an eyebrow at him) OK. OK. As well as all the other times. Ready? Geronimo!

They run and leap off the cliff only to land in a white room. Suspended throughout the room are pieces of machinery.

Grief marks the faces of the Doctors, save Twelve, of course – he knew it was going to be okay. But the companions were uneasy. The Doctor and the TARDIS were a package deal. What was one without the other? Amy had once remarked that after they were all long gone, at least he'd still have her. But now…it wasn't his fault, he wasn't to know, but still. There had to be a way of fixing it. The pain one would feel to see a dragon, a whale, a dinosaur, die – a great and majestic beast bought low by the greed of man.

DOCTOR: The heart of the TARDIS. The engine - it's already exploded. It must have been the collision with the salvage ship.

CLARA: We're not dead.

DOCTOR: She wrapped her hands around the force. Froze it.

CLARA: So... so it's safe?

DOCTOR: Temporary fix. Eventually, this whole place will erupt. There's no way I can save her now. She's just always been there for me, taken care of me. And now it's my turn and I don't know what to do. It... it just...

CLARA comes up and takes the DOCTOR'S hand in hers. The DOCTOR feels the burns and looks at her palm.

DOCTOR: (smiles) Oh, Clara. Oh. You are beautiful.

The letters on CLARA'S hand spell out "Big Friendly Button".

DOCTOR: (cups her face) Beautiful fragile human skin. (kisses her palm) Like parchment. Thank you. (takes out sonic) The rift in time. All the memories leaking out. I need to find the moment we crashed. I need to find... the music. (music fills the room)

The DOCTOR takes CLARA by the hand and runs from the room.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

The DOCTOR and CLARA enter the console room using the sonic screwdriver to guide them. He spots a crack in the wall under the console and walks over to it.

DOCTOR: The time rift. Recent past. Possible future.

CLARA: What are you going to do?

The DOCTOR has the remote for the magno-grab and uses the sonic to write on it.

DOCTOR: Rewrite today, I hope. I've thrown this through the rift before. I need to make sure this time. Going to take it in there myself. There might be a certain amount of yelling.

CLARA: It's going to hurt?

DOCTOR: Things that end your life often do that. (heads for the rift)

CLARA: Wait! All those things you said. How we've met before. How I died...

DOCTOR: (walks back to CLARA) Clara, don't worry. You'll forget. Time mends us. It can mend anything.

CLARA: I don't want to forget. Not all of it. The library. I saw it. You were mentioned in a book.

DOCTOR: (pulls back a little) I'm mentioned in a lot of books. (starts back to the rift)

CLARA: You call yourself Doctor. (he points at her) Why do you do that? You have a name. I've seen it. In one corner of that tiny...

The DOCTOR hurries back and presses a finger to her lips.

DOCTOR: If I rewrite today, you won't remember. You won't go looking for my name.

CLARA: You'll still have secrets.

DOCTOR: (gently pats her cheek) Better that way.

'No, it's not!' Clara looked rather put out. 'Secrets kill people. You'd think one would know after 1200 years that communication is really important. I suppose it doesn't matter. I remembered it anyways.'

The DOCTOR psychs himself up and then steps into the rift. He screams in agony before disappearing for CLARA'S view.

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

Sparks fly and the TARDIS lurches, throwing the DOCTOR and CLARA backwards. The DOCTOR makes his way back to the console.

DOCTOR: Magnetic hobble-field. We're flying right into it. Clara, stay by me!

CLARA: (grips side console) Please tell me there's a button you can press to fix this.

DOCTOR: Oh, yes. Big friendly button.

CLARA: You're lying.

DOCTOR: Yep.

CLARA: To stop me freaking out?

DOCTOR: Is it working?

CLARA: Not so much.

The DOCTOR reaches through the rift and calls to his past self who has been knocked against the rail.

DOCTOR: Doctor. Doctor. I'm from your future. We haven't got long. It's a reset dial.

Amy snorted. 'Sorry, it's just reminded me of that joke about a decision can't being too bad if your future self doesn't come in to stop it. Guess teaching Clara to fly is a really bad idea.' 'That's not fair!' Eleven protested. 'It wasn't her fault. I thought we were in deep enough space, but apparently not.'

The DOCTOR dissipates into air and the device falls from his hand and rolls across the floor. CLARA picks it up and it burns her hand.

DOCTOR: No! No!

CLARA lets go of the device and the DOCTOR dives to catch it. He looks at the device and laughs as he reads it.

DOCTOR: Big friendly button.

The DOCTOR laughs and presses the button. The screen goes white.

'So…that's it?' Rose said. 'You erased the day?' 'That's really irresponsible.' Ten turned to glare. 'Messing with the space-time continuum. What if that day was important to someone? It could be a day that ended a generation-spanning inter-planetary war! And now it's been erased, negotiations could fail and-' Donna shushed him. 'The TARDIS is safe. That's what matters.' 'Especially as I've personally seen what happens if the TARDIS is messed with.' Amy screwed up her face. 'Ka-boom. The whole universe. Anyway, I'm sure someone really embarrassed themselves that day, and then it got erased. Pile of good and bad things.' 'It seems so…why is the TARDIS so tied into the fate of the universe? It just seems like you're asking for something to happen.' Rory asked. 'No wonder he stole it. They'd never let something that important near the Doctor. 'Hey!'

EXT. SPACE

The TARDIS spins through space

INT. TARDIS, CONSOLE ROOM

The DOCTOR is polishing the centre column as CLARA enters having changed and showered. She leans against the console.

CLARA: I feel exhausted. I feel...

DOCTOR: Like we've had two days crammed into the space of one?

CLARA: Why would you say that?

DOCTOR: (works controls) I don't know. I say stuff. Ignore me. (pauses) Do you feel safe?

CLARA: Of course.

DOCTOR: (spins to face her) Give me a number out of ten. Ten being whoo-hoo, one being aarrrggh!

CLARA: You're being weird.

'When is he not.' Donna said.

DOCTOR: I need to know if you feel safe. I need to know... you're not afraid.

CLARA: Of?

DOCTOR: The future. Running away with a spaceman in a box. Anything could happen to you.

CLARA: That's what I'm counting on. Push the button. (leaves)

The DOCTOR smiles and tosses the cloth onto the console with a hook shot. He then pulls the dematerialization lever.

END CREDITS


	3. Silence In The Library

A buzz and a smooth click, and the TV slid back to its slot in the wall, leaving no trace it had ever been there at all.

Just below it, a door slid back, and the lights in their current room dimmed and beyond the door, they brightened.

'Could be less obvious, yeah.' Bill muttered. 'We're not thick.'

Thirteen walked carefully forward, and stuck out her sonic like a wand, right at the gap. It buzzed yellow – rather pretty, really. 'No life signs.' She pouted adorably when Eleven 2.0 checked, but of course they didn't trust her. As far as they knew, she'd set up this whole thing – heck, as far as she knew, she had. No. She wouldn't think about that. The future was changeable, her future was changeable, it had to be. Why else would they be here, watching her lives? Torture?

She pushed into the corridor beyond, ignoring the cries of warning. Nothing happened. She wasn't vaporised or laid unconscious.

'It's fine!' Hesitantly, they all filed through.

The hallway was lined with doors, each with a name – Nine, Ten, Twelve, Rose, Yaz, Ryan, Graham - on the opposite side to the doorway. On the same side as the door were rooms for Amy and Rory, Eleven and River, Eleven and Clara, and Rose and John; their doors were a good deal more spread out than the others.

'Wait.' Rory said. 'Names on doors. Do you remember that hotel we went to? Maybe this is a random test thing. Like, our fears, all over again.'

It did seem possible. But there was no magnetic pull, no psychic filter, not like there had been last time. Thirteen felt sick at the thought of it. She'd been at that hotel. Saw things that didn't surprise her, but rather left her nauseous. She had no desire for a repeat.

'I've seen – lived – my worst fear.' River interrupted the speculative silence. 'I'll check.'

She walked carefully over to her and Eleven's door. 'Oh, it can't be our fears. We wouldn't share one.'

All the same, Amy found herself holding her breath as she clicked it open and peered inside, but River's body language immediately relaxed.

'It's a bedroom. Double bed. I reckon they all are.'

'A bedroom?' Clara said. 'They want us to sleep here? Anyways, I thought Time Lords didn't sleep?'

'We do! Just when you're not looking. We nap. We only need about an hour anyway.'

'Well!' Amy grabbed Rory and began to bundle him towards their room. 'I'm sure you can find a way to occupy your time. Goodnight.'

Rory had the graciousness to look embarrassed, but Amy simply tugged him into the room and shut the door. Amy poked her head out a few seconds later.

'They're soundproofed!' Then she was gone.

Eleven and River's room was the furthest away from any other, and she manhandled him inside before he could protest with barely a backwards glance.

'Separating us into single and not single. It's bloody backwards-'

They all entered their separate rooms, pleased to find inside a cupboard with food and drink and several books, a nice lamp, the bed soft and clean. The lights dimmed a couple of hours later, and most of them drifted calmly off to sleep. Save the Time Lords; they read books on quantum physics or the sociological customs of some far-off and long dead civilisation.

They were all woken by a kind of klaxon-esque screech, eight times, and then silence; they all stumbled out of their rooms in various hazes of sleep. Amy looked dreadful and somehow still beautiful, her hair a tangled mess. She looked only slightly worse than Rory, who followed her out in a dressing gown. Eleven poked his head out next, Clara too, dressed in a grey cardigan and a t-shirt several times too big. She padded into the hallway, feet bare.

'Alright!' She had a surprisingly demanding tone. 'Whoever did that, I will find you, and I will kick your teeth down your throat!' She walked back into the room and slammed the door, leaving Eleven looking bewildered and alone.

Rose – the older version – wandered into the hallway from the TV room, grinning. She held a cup of coffee. 'I'm used to being up with the baby. There's coffee and food in there. Lights came on about six.'

Various nods at her, kind of grunts, and they wandered in, in droves. Eleven and Thirteen took one sip of coffee and spat it out, neither one for bitter tastes. But the pancakes were good. River lounged on one of the sofas drinking a mimosa and eating French toast. Amy sat next to her, and the two engaged in a kind of conversation, Amy doing most of the talking and River nodding at the appropriate times.

Clara wandered in a little later, clearly having showered, hair up in a ponytail. She gulped coffee like it was the elixir of life – and as a teacher, to her it really was. Yaz approached her, sort of nervously. 'Clara, right?'

She dipped her head. 'The one and only. Well, not really. Long story. How long have you been travelling with the Doctor?'

'Oh, only a few months.'

'I managed a few years.' Clara sipped more coffee, and ate a breadstick simply because they were there. 'Is it worth it? Are you having fun?'

Yaz twisted her fingers. 'Well…you're a teacher, right? I was just wondering how you managed to do that as well as travel with the Doctor. It's great, it's honestly amazing, but I want to be a police officer. I want to help people, make their lives better, but not on some grand cosmic scale like the Doctor does. I don't think I could manage that. Just earth stuff.'

Clara tapped her fingers on the mug. 'I'm sure you'll find you're capable of a lot more things than you think. But if you don't want that… well, it's hard. To find that balance. The Doctor, though, me and him… he took me on an adventure once every week. Fifty-two a year. Probably why I survived this long, because I went with him less. Honestly, you should tell your Doctor that – I'm sure he'll understand that you have to keep your life outside if him, and if he doesn't get that, you yell until he does. He needs to understand that we need earth lives or we'll go mad once he's gone. Don't let him be selfish.'

'And you? When he left you, was it easy to go back to your life?'

Clara put the mug down. 'I made a mistake when it came to me leaving, so when he came back, I made him my life to run from it. Don't let that happen. Don't let everything slip away for the Doctor. He doesn't mean to, but it happens. It's early days for you. Keep on your toes and you'll learn plenty to make you a better police lady. Think of it as training. But whatever you do – keep it aside. A hobby, a fairytale. Don't let it, him. become everything'

'What was your mistake?'

Clara never got to answer, as the screen began to click, and she gave Yaz an apologetic smile before walking to her seat next to her Eleven, her Doctor, her world.

The TV hit zero, and began to play.

(To a background of nursery music.)  
MOON [OC]: Close your eyes, and tell me what you see.  
GIRL: The library.  
(A massive, futuristic building which she is floating above.)  
MOON [OC]: Open your eyes again. Where are you now?

[Girl's home]

(Dr Moon is making notes as the girl's father watches.)  
GIRL: My living room, Doctor Moon.  
MOON: When you close your eyes  
GIRL: I go to the library.  
MOON: Go to the library now.

'Oh, a psychiatrist.' Amy groaned. 'Had my fair share of those.'

[Rotunda]

(A circular wood panelled room lit by natural light from the dome above. Very classical looking.)  
MOON [OC]: Are you back there?  
GIRL: Yes.  
MOON [OC]: The same part?  
GIRL: No, it's always different. The library goes on for ever.  
MOON [OC]: How do you move around?  
GIRL: By wishing.  
(The big entrance doors rattle.)

'If this is a dream she can wish herself around in, then what the hell is that?' Rory yelped.

[Girl's home]

MOON: What's wrong?  
GIRL: Something's here. Someone's got in. No one's supposed to get in.  
FATHER: She's never mentioned any one else. She's always been alone.  
GIRL: Someone's in my library. No, no, please, that's not allowed. That's not allowed.  
MOON: Listen to me. The library is in your mind.  
GIRL: I know it's in my mind, but something's got inside.

'Now, hang on!' Clara spluttered. 'That place was massive! It's completely unfair for her to have it all to herself!'

[Rotunda]

(The Doctor and Donna burst in. The Doctor grabs a book and uses it to jam the door handles so it won't open again.)  
DOCTOR: Oh. Hello. Sorry to burst in on you like this. Okay if we stop here for a bit?

OPENING CREDITS

SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY

[Tardis]

(We now get what is presumably what happened before they burst into the rotunda.)  
DOCTOR: Books. People never really stop loving books.

[Library]

(The Tardis is in a mostly empty area with just a few small cases of books.)  
DOCTOR: Fifty first century. By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell. The smell of books, Donna. Deep breath.

'It is an amazing smell.' Rose said. 'Takes me back to primary school.' She pulled a face. 'Dreadful time.' The others all sounded their agreement.

[Staircase]

(A massive marble job.)  
DOCTOR: The Library. So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big The.

'Kinda like you, Doctor.' Clara teased. 'So important you don't need a name. Just The Doctor. The only one that matters.'

DONNA: It's like a city.  
DOCTOR: It's a world. Literally, a world. The whole core of the planet is the index computer. Biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand new editions, specially printed.  
(They look over a balcony onto roofs below.)  
DOCTOR: We're near the equator, so this must be biographies. I love biographies.  
DONNA: Yeah, very you. Always a death at the end.  
DOCTOR: You need a good death. Without death, there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size.  
(Donna picks up a book and the Doctor takes it from her.)  
DOCTOR: Way-a. Spoilers.

Eleven finger-gunned River at the word spoilers. She face-palmed.

DONNA: What?  
DOCTOR: These books are from your future. You don't want to read ahead. Spoil all the surprises. Like peeking at the end.  
DONNA: Isn't travelling with you one big spoiler?  
DOCTOR: I try to keep you away from major plot developments. Which, to be honest, I seem to be very bad at, because you know what? This is the biggest library in the universe. So where is everyone? It's silent.

'Uhh it's a library it's supposed to be silent.' Bill said.

(The Doctor uses his screwdriver on a nearby information screen, bringing it online.)  
DONNA: The library?  
DOCTOR: The planet. The whole planet.  
DONNA: Maybe it's a Sunday.  
DOCTOR: No, I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring.

'Holy Sabbath.' Rose said, and giggled.

'That doesn't make any sense.' Rory murmured. 'Why would the last day of an earth week have any bearing on the rest of the universe?'

DONNA: Well, maybe everyone's really, really quiet.  
DOCTOR: Yeah, maybe. But they'd still show up on the system.  
DONNA: Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?  
DOCTOR: Oh, you know, just passing.

'Yeah, that's never the case.' Amy teased.

DONNA: No, seriously. It was all let's hit the beach, then suddenly we're in a library. Why?  
DOCTOR: Now that's interesting.  
DONNA: What?  
DOCTOR: Scanning for life forms. If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids. You know, your book readers, few limbs and a face, apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada. See? Nobody home. But if I widen the parameters to any kind of life.  
(The screen says Error 1,000,000,000,000 lifeform number capped at maximum record.)  
DOCTOR: A million, million. Gives up after that. A million, million.  
DONNA: But there's nothing here. There's no one.  
DOCTOR: And not a sound. A million. million life forms, and silence in the library.

'Roll credits.' Bill said.

DONNA: But there's no one here. There's just books. I mean, it's not the books, is it? I mean, it can't be the books, can it? I mean, books can't be alive.  
(They both reach slowly for a book. A voice makes them jump.)  
NODE [OC]: Welcome.  
DONNA: That came from here.  
DOCTOR: Yeah.

'You're such an idiot.' Clara giggled. 'The oncoming storm actually thought books were alive.' 'I did not!' Ten protested. 'Well – only for a few seconds. Less than that!'

[Library]

(They return to the mostly empty room. A vaguely humanoid sculpture by a curved desk turns its head and speaks with a female voice from a small face on its surface.)  
NODE: I am Courtesy Node seven one zero slash aqua. Please enjoy the Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers, regardless of species or hygiene taboo.  
DONNA: That face, it looks real.  
DOCTOR: Yeah, don't worry about it.  
DONNA: A statue with a real face, though? It's a hologram or something, isn't it?  
DOCTOR: No, but really, it's fine.  
NODE: Additional. There follows a brief message from the Head Librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by a Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter. Message follows. Run. For God's sake, run. No way is safe. The library has sealed itself, we can't. Oh, they're here. Argh. Slarg. Snick. Message ends. Please switch off your mobile comm. units for the comfort of other readers.

'Well, that's not horrible at all.' Amy murmured. 'Cryptic messages from the since-dead. No thanks.'

DOCTOR: So that's why we're here. Any other messages, same date stamp?  
NODE: One additional message. This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of five zero eleven  
DOCTOR: Yeah, yeah, fine, fine, fine. Just play it.  
NODE: Message follows. Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember, if you want to live, count the shadows. Message ends. (There is a pause as they both assess the information.)  
DOCTOR: Donna?  
DONNA: Yeah?  
DOCTOR: Stay out of the shadows.  
DONNA: Why, what's in the shadows?

[Stacks]

DONNA: So, We weren't just in the neighbourhood.  
DOCTOR: Yeah, I kind of, sort of lied a bit. I got a message on the psychic paper.

'You do that.' River sighed.

(It reads - The library. Come as soon as you can. x)  
DOCTOR: What do you think? Cry for help?  
DONNA: Cry for help…with a kiss?  
DOCTOR: Oh, we've all done that.  
DONNA: Who's it from?  
DOCTOR: No idea.

'You've got an admirer, Doctor.' Mickey said teasingly.

DONNA: So why did we come here? Why did you  
DOCTOR: Donna.  
(The lights behind them are going out.)  
DONNA: What's happening?  
DOCTOR: Run!  
(They can't get the nearest door open.)  
DOCTOR: Come on.  
DONNA: What, is it locked?  
DOCTOR: Jammed. The wood's warped.  
DONNA: Well, sonic it. Use the thingy.  
DOCTOR: I can't, it's wood.  
DONNA: What, it doesn't do wood?  
DOCTOR: Hang on, hang on. I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings. I can shatterline the interface.  
DONNA: Oh, get out of the way.  
(Donna kicks the door open.)

'I have got to learn to do that!' Amy cried. 'Where would you be without us, Doctor.'

[Rotunda]

(And we're back to where we were before the titles.)  
DOCTOR: Oh. Hello. Sorry to burst on you like this. Okay if we stop here for a bit?  
(We see the girl open her eyes at home. The Doctor and Donna see a small metal globe fall to the ground.)  
DONNA: What is it?  
DOCTOR: Security camera. Switched itself off.

'Wait, what?' Rory asked sharply. 'She was a little girl earlier! How is she…a machine? A camera that thinks it's a person…?'

Clara wondered. The memories were hazy, thankfully, but she remembered being a Dalek, still clinging to her fantasy of being human. She hoped it wasn't the case with this little girl – she was so young. A horrible thought struck her. Perhaps that was the fate of the people in the Library; uploaded into machines, desperately pretending nothing was wrong as humans were so adept at doing. She wasn't sure she'd be able to watch that, knowing how it felt to have the dream crash about around her.

[Rotunda]

(The Doctor is using his sonic screwdriver on the security camera.)  
DOCTOR: Nice door skills, Donna.  
DONNA: Yeah, well, you know, boyfriends. Sometimes you need the element of surprise. What was that? What was after us? I mean, did we just run away from a power cut?  
DOCTOR: Possibly.  
DONNA: Are we safe here?  
DOCTOR: Of course we're safe. There's a little shop.  
(A sign on the wall says The Shop, and Entrance This Way. The Doctor gets the camera open.)  
DOCTOR: Gotcha!

'You and your little shops.' Martha said. 'There was one in my hospital that you spent way too much time talking about.

[Girl's home]

(The little girls falls onto a rug with the same motif as the camera lens cap - a stylised eye. Doctor Moon and her father comfort her.)

'Hey, it's the same…' Rory said, pointing.

GIRL: No, stop it. No. No.

[Rotunda]

(Her words scroll across a little panel on the camera.)  
DOCTOR: Ooo, I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's alive.  
DONNA: You said it was a security camera.  
DOCTOR: It is. It's an alive one.

They all smiled a little at that. The Doctor was nothing without his empathy, his unwillingness to bring others harm. But he was a little trigger-happy with his sonic screwdriver.

[Girl's home]

MOON: Can you hear me? Are you all right?  
GIRL: Others are coming.  
MOON: Who's coming? Who are the others?  
GIRL: The library is breached. Others are coming.  
MOON: What others?

The episode was building up a sense of visceral terror in the companions, those who had not lived through it anyways, with the music and the lack of intelligent life save the Doctor and Donna. They didn't feel safe with nothing else around that was alive and able to save them. The weird face-nodes had read out the message of the tragedy with such inhuman blankness they would be of no help. And now others. Something was in the library with them, and was that ever good?

[Rotunda]

DONNA: Others? What's it mean, others?  
(Donna goes to a Node.)  
DONNA: Excuse me. What does it mean, others?  
DOCTOR: That's barely more than a speak your weight machine, it can't help you.  
DONNA: So why's it got a face?  
MARK NODE: This flesh aspect was donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death.  
DONNA: It's a real face?.  
MARK NODE: It has been actualised individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy.  
DONNA: It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like? That statue's got a real dead person's face on it.  
DOCTOR: It's the fifty first century. That's basically like donating a park bench.  
DONNA: It's donating a face!  
DOCTOR: No, wait, no.  
(The Doctor grabs Donna as she backs away.)  
DONNA: Oi. Hands.

A few laughs at that; the Doctor had barely a grasp on human customs, and they'd all had to slap him at some point for being too forward.

DOCTOR: The shadow. Look.  
DONNA: What about it?  
DOCTOR: Count the shadows.  
DONNA: One. There, counted it. One shadow.  
DOCTOR: Yeah But what's casting it?

'Oh, my god.' Amy whispered. 'That's so creepy.'

(It is a triangular shadow. The camera pans up to show the light source. It is unblocked.)  
DOCTOR: Oh, I'm thick! Look at me, I'm old and thick. Head's too full of stuff. I need a bigger head.  
(The light in adjoining corridor is going out.)

'Saves me from saying it.' Donna grinned at him.

DONNA: The power must be going.  
DOCTOR: This place runs on fission cells. They'll out-burn the sun.  
DONNA: Then why is it dark?  
DOCTOR: It's not dark.

'I hated it when you did that.' Rose grumbled. 'Talked over me. Gave me barely an eighth of an explanation and expected me to just blindly follow you! And I'd say something and you'd tell me I was wrong and then not tell me how it was wrong.

DONNA: That shadow. It's gone.  
DOCTOR: We need to get back to the Tardis.  
DONNA: Why?  
DOCTOR: Because that shadow hasn't gone. It's moved.  
MARK NODE: Reminder. The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The library has been breached (repeated)  
(A door is blown open in a flash of bright light, and six figures in spacesuits enter. The leader adjusts her polarising filter so we can see her face.)  
RIVER: Hello, sweetie.  
DOCTOR: Get out.

'Ever the charmer, my love.' River sighed.

DONNA: Doctor.  
DOCTOR: All of you. Turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away. Tell your grandchildren you came to the library and lived. They won't believe you.  
RIVER: Pop your helmets, everyone. We've got breathers.  
ANITA: How do you know they're not androids?  
RIVER: Because I've dated androids. They're rubbish.  
(A man speaks.)  
LUX: Who is this? You said we were the only expedition. I paid for exclusives.  
RIVER: I lied, I'm always lying. Bound to be others.

'I wonder where she gets that from.' Amy looked pointedly at the Doctor.

LUX: Miss Evangelista, I want to see the contracts.  
RIVER: You came through the north door, yeah? How was that, much damage?  
DOCTOR: Please, just leave. I'm asking you seriously and properly, just leave. Hang on. Did you say expedition? LUX: My expedition. I funded it.  
DOCTOR: Oh, you're not, are you? Tell me you're not archaeologists.  
RIVER: Got a problem with archaeologists?  
DOCTOR: I'm a time traveller. I point and laugh at archaeologists.  
RIVER: Ah. Professor River Song, archaeologist.  
DOCTOR: River Song, lovely name. As you're leaving, and you're leaving now, you need to set up a quarantine beacon. Code wall the planet, the whole planet. Nobody comes here, not ever again. Not one living thing, not here, not ever. Stop right there. What's your name?

'He just loves complimenting people's names.' Amy realised. 'He told me mine was from a fairy-tale.'

'Mine too.' Clara said. 'He said never to change it.'

'I wasn't talking about your earth names.' Eleven said quietly. 'I meant your names in Gallifreyan, or what they would be if you were Gallifreyan. You all lead such beautiful lives.'

ANITA: Anita.  
DOCTOR: Anita, stay out of the shadows. Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows till you're safely back in your ship. Goes for all of you. Stay in the light. Find a nice, bright spot and just stand. If you understand me, look very, very scared. No, bit more scared than that. Okay, do for now. You. Who are you?

'See, Doctor, if you just told them the Library was full of killer shadows, I'm sure they'd listen.' Rose prompted.

'They won't believe me.' Ten sighed. 'No one believes me.'

OTHER DAVE: Er, Dave.  
DOCTOR: Okay, Dave.  
OTHER DAVE: Oh, well, Other Dave, because that's Proper Dave the pilot, he was the first Dave, so when we-  
DOCTOR: Other Dave, the way you came, does it look the same as before?  
OTHER DAVE: Yeah. Oh, it's a bit darker.  
DOCTOR: How much darker?  
OTHER DAVE Oh, like I could see where we came through just like a moment ago. I can't now.  
DOCTOR: Seal up this door. We'll find another way out.  
OTHER DAVE: Would you-  
LUX: We're not looking for a way out. Miss Evangelista?  
EVANGELISTA: I'm Mister Lux's personal everything. You need to sign these contracts agreeing that your individual experience inside the library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation.  
DOCTOR: Right, give it here.  
DONNA: Yeah, lovely. Thanks.  
(The Doctor and Donna tear up the contracts.)

Snickers at that. They'd done it in the exact same moment. Truly best friends.

LUX: My family built this library. I have rights.  
RIVER: You have a mouth that won't stop. You think there's danger here?  
DOCTOR: Something came to this library and killed everything in it. Killed a whole world. Danger? Could be.  
RIVER: That was a hundred years ago. The Library's been silent for a hundred years. Whatever came here's long dead.  
DOCTOR: Bet your life?  
RIVER: Always.

'Probably you being reckless is what turned my hair grey.' The Doctor sighed.

LUX: What are you doing?  
OTHER DAVE: He said seal the door.  
DOCTOR: Torch.  
LUX: You're taking orders from him?  
DOCTOR: Spooky, isn't it?

'God, you're insufferable.' Rose said jokingly. 'You're just so used to people following you.'

(The Doctor takes Lux's torch and shines it into the far recesses of the round room.)  
DOCTOR: Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong, because it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada.

'Sounds less like a terrifying monster and more sort of like a sneeze.' Ryan said.

DONNA: What's Vashta Nerada?  
DOCTOR: It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark. Lights! That's what we need, lights. You got lights?  
RIVER: What for?  
DOCTOR: Form a circle. Safe area. Big as you can, lights pointing out.  
RIVER: Oi. Do as he says. LUX: You're not listening to this man?  
RIVER: Apparently I am. Anita, unpack the lights. Other Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Mister Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Proper Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access the library database. See what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago. Pretty boy, you're with me. Step into my office.  
LUX: Professor Song, why am I the only one wearing my helmet?  
RIVER: I don't fancy you.

'The Doctor and River both dislike the same person.' Mickey said. 'Rose and I used to…' He trailed off. Martha put her arm round him.

DOCTOR: Probably I can help you.  
RIVER: Pretty boy. With me, I said. (It takes a minute for it to click.'  
DOCTOR: Oh, I'm pretty boy?  
DONNA: Yes. Oooh, that came out a bit quick.  
DOCTOR: Pretty? (He pulls a face, but seems to accept it.)  
DONNA: Meh.

'You are pretty though.' Clara said. Eleven looked rather put out. River – as Melody – had said he was hot once. It felt like a downgrade. Not that he cared…that much. He was far beyond human needs for validation.

DOCTOR: Don't let your shadows cross. Seriously, don't even let them touch. Any of them could be infected.  
OTHER DAVE: How can a shadow be infected?

Rose poked Ten's shoulder. 'See! Not. Proper. Explanations. Not everyone is as clever as you!' She poked him with every word, then, satisfied her point made it across, settled back beside her husband.

EVANGELISTA: Excuse me, can I help?  
ANITA: No, we're fine.  
EVANGELISTA: I could just you know, hold things.  
OTHER DAVE: No, really, we're okay.  
DONNA: Couldn't she help?  
OTHER DAVE: Trust me. I just spent four days on a ship with that woman. She's er…  
ANITA: Couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod and the bathroom. We had to go back for her. Twice.

Rose felt bad for laughing at that. 'I suppose they might look similar.'

(Evangelista talks with her boss. River takes a battered book from her backpack. Its cover is blue with eight squares. It is the same colour as the TARDIS, and reminds one of it.)  
RIVER: Thanks.  
DOCTOR: For what?  
RIVER: The usual. For coming when I call.

'Don't I always.' Eleven groaned. 'To honour and obey.'

DOCTOR: Oh, that was you?  
RIVER: You're doing a very good job, acting like you don't know me. I'm assuming there's a reason.  
DOCTOR: A fairly good one, actually.  
RIVER: Okay, shall we do diaries, then? Where are we this time? Er, going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you, yeah? So, er, crash of the Byzantium. Have we done that yet?

(He just looks at her completely lost)

RIVER: Obviously ringing no bells. Right. Oh, picnic at Asgard. Have we done Asgard yet? Obviously not. Blimey, very early days, then. Whoo, life with a time traveller. Never knew it could be such hard work. Look at you. Oh, you're young.  
DOCTOR: I'm really not, you know.

'You are to me.' Rory said smugly. Well, reality might have been rebooted, but still. 2000 years. The Doctor – his Doctor, at least – was younger than him. He might not have spent that time freeing civilisations and pissing off every form of authority he came across, but he'd used it to protect something terribly important to him. He was proud of. The Doctor would never be able to stay in one place, for love or otherwise – he was far too restless. Perhaps that was why Amy had chosen him in the end.

RIVER: No, but you are. Your eyes. You're younger than I've ever seen you.  
DOCTOR: You've seen me before, then?  
RIVER: Doctor, please tell me you know who I am.  
DOCTOR: Who are you?

River pressed her eyes shut. She'd known it was coming, knew the Doctor's knowledge of her fluctuated with every meeting, so it stood to reason she'd eventually meet one unfamiliar to her – one in love with another woman, even. It wasn't his fault, of course. He didn't know her. But he did learn how she was going to die, and he hadn't told her. She'd initially assumed he must be a regeneration after Twelve, but as soon as she realised he was from before Eleven, she'd felt the dread set in.

He had cried, at Darillium, and the only other time she had seen him cry was after Manhatten. She felt bad for leaving him – perhaps she should have said yes, allow herself to travel with him, at least until he found another earth girl to occupy his time. He had, eventually. She'd been told about her by that immortal girl – Me, which got rather confusing – when Me had come to take her out of the Library database using technology she'd stolen from Gallifrey. Clara Oswald had returned to face the raven by that point, and she'd got almost the same lonely immortal vibe from Me as she got from her Doctor. Me missed Clara, not that she'd admit it, and she told River all about her. Of course the Doctor had loved Clara.

River was used to forgiving the Doctor's indiscretions, as he was forgiving hers. But making someone else immortal – someone he didn't even really like – and then abandoning them to time… she'd been too angry to love him for a long time after that. She'd disappeared from the Galactic stage. She lived in a small town now. Yes, on the run, but the husbands – and wife – didn't need to know that.

(Brng, brng. Brng, brng.)  
DAVE: Sorry, that was me. Trying to get through into the security protocols. I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?  
DONNA: Doctor? Doctor, that sounds like…  
DOCTOR: It is. It's a phone.

[Girl's home]

(A proper non-wireless, decent sized handset telephone is ringing. The girl has the television on but her back is to is as she writes or draws on some paper.)  
GIRL: Dad?  
FATHER: In a minute.

[Rotunda]

DAVE: I'm trying to call up the data core, but it's not responding. Just that noise.  
DONNA: But it's a phone.  
DOCTOR: Let me try something.

'Wait a minute…' Rose muttered. 'If the data core is that girl's house, and that girl is a security camera, then the girl must be wired into the machine somehow. Like the Controller, maybe.'

Clara felt sick. The poor girl…a terrible fate for anyone.

[Girl's home]

GIRL: Dad, the phone. Aren't you going to answer it?  
FATHER: It's not ringing, sweetie.  
(The phone stops ringing just as she gets to it.)

[Rotunda]

(The screen says Access Denied.)  
DOCTOR: Okay, doesn't like that. Let's try something else.

'Can't he hear it!? He shouldn't just ignore his daughter like that!' Rory said angrily.

[Girl's home]

(The girl is drawing the library.)  
DOCTOR [OC]: Okay, here it comes.  
DOCTOR [on TV]: Hello?  
GIRL: Hello. Are you in my television?

Snickers at that. 'Yes, you are in the television…for some reason.' Amy said.

DOCTOR [on TV]: Well, no, I'm, I'm sort of in space. Er, I was trying to call up the data core of a triple grid security processor.

'Easy mistake to make.' Ryan joked.

GIRL: Would you like to speak to my Dad?  
DOCTOR [on TV]: Dad or your Mum. That'd be lovely.  
GIRL: I know you. You're in my library.  
DOCTOR [on TV]: Your library?  
GIRL: The library's never been on the television before. What have you done?  
DOCTOR [on TV]: Er, well, I just rerouted the interface.  
(The cartoon returns.)

'Hey! I used to watch that!' Donna said joyfully.

[Rotunda]

RIVER: What happened? Who was that?  
(Access denied flashes on the terminal. The girl starts changing channels on the television.)  
DOCTOR: I need another terminal. Keep working on those lights. We need those lights!  
RIVER: You heard him, people. Let there be light.  
(The Doctor goes to the other terminal, where River left her diary. When he picks it up, she takes it from him.)  
RIVER: Sorry, you're not allowed to see inside the book. It's against the rules.  
DOCTOR: What rules?  
RIVER: Your rules.

'You know yourself very well.' Clara said carefully. She'd been in the Library. Peeked in the book. She knew he couldn't look in it, because the last time he'd had foreknowledge, it had led to tragedy.

(The girl opens the extra section at the bottom of the remote controller and presses a button. Books start flying off the shelves.)  
DOCTOR: What's that? I didn't do that. Did you do that?  
DAVE: Not me.  
(The Doctor's screen says Cal Access Denied.)  
DOCTOR: What's Cal?  
(The girl works her way through all the extra buttons. The bombardment of books finally stops. Donna goes over to Miss Evangelista.)  
DONNA: You all right?  
EVANGELISTA: What's that? What's happening?  
LUX: I don't know.  
DONNA: Oh, thanks, for er, you know, offering to help with the lights.  
EVANGELISTA: They don't want me. They think I'm stupid, because I'm pretty.

'That was not the reason.' River said.

DONNA: Course they don't. Nobody thinks that.  
EVANGELISTA: No, they're right though. I'm a moron, me. My dad said I have the IQ of plankton, and I was pleased.  
DONNA: See, that's funny.  
EVANGELISTA: No, no, I really was pleased. Is that funny?  
DONNA: No, no.

Amy pulled a face. 'I don't think plankton have brains. I mean, I didn't do well in biology, but I think they're too small.'

(More books shoot off their shelves.)  
RIVER: What's causing that? Is it the little girl?  
DOCTOR: But who is the little girl? What's she got to do with this place? How does the data core work? What's the principle? What's Cal?  
RIVER: Ask Mister Lux.  
DOCTOR: Cal, what is it?  
LUX: Sorry, you didn't sign your personal experience contracts.  
DOCTOR: Mister Lux. Right now, you're in more danger than you've ever been in your whole life. And you're protecting a patent?  
LUX: I'm protecting my family's pride.  
DOCTOR: Well, funny thing, Mister Lux. I don't want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important.

'Yes, Doctor, because you wouldn't know anything about stupid pride, would you?' Clara said. Behind her, Amy spluttered with laughter. The Doctor had the grace to look embarrassed.

DOCTOR: Okay, okay, okay. Let's start at the beginning. What happened here? On the actual day, a hundred years ago, what physically happened?  
(The girl presses a button on her remote, and a panel slides up in the wall. Evangelista notices it.)  
RIVER: There was a message from the Library. Just one. The lights are going out. Then the computer sealed the planet, and there was nothing for a hundred years.  
LUX: It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals and get back in.

'The lights are going out.' Rose said. 'Very dramatic and poetic and completely frigging useless.'

EVANGELISTA: Er, excuse me?  
LUX: Not just now.  
RIVER: There was one other thing in the last message.  
LUX: That's confidential.  
RIVER: I trust this man with my life, with everything.  
LUX: You've only just met him.  
RIVER: No, he's only just met me.

'I imagine that cleared everything up.'

EVANGELISTA: Er, this might be important, actually.  
LUX: In a moment.

'Come on.' Rory said, frustrated. 'He won't even look at her! Just because he doesn't think she's very bright. This Lux guy deserves a slap.'

'Oh, he got one.' River said brightly, smiling.

RIVER: This is a data extract that came with the message.  
DOCTOR: Four thousand and twenty-two saved. No survivors.  
RIVER: Four thousand and twenty-two. That's the exact number of people who were in the library when the planet was sealed.

'That's less than the population of London.' Clara said. 'By a lot. You'd have thought a library that size would have millions. I suppose that means only four thousand odd people died.'

DONNA: But how can four thousand and twenty two people have been saved if there were no survivors?  
RIVER: That's what we're here to find out.  
LUX: And so far, what we haven't found are any bodies.

Some faces were pulled at that. Finding four thousand bodies on a planet that size would be a challenge, but if the readers were dead, one of them would show up eventually.'

[Lecture hall]

(Evangelista explores the open panel alone. She goes down a short passage to what might be a reading room or lecture hall. Anyway, every flat surface has books piled on it. She steps into the darkness and screams. The Doctor leads the way to investigate. They find a skeleton.)

'No, no.' Rose said. 'Don't leave the group. Have you never seen a horror movie?' Was a horror movie even worth it when your job was wandering around dark and dusty planets were thousands of people perished? Certainly they'd never worked on her again. She'd never see the appeal of archaeology, of the dead.

DOCTOR: Everybody, careful. Stay in the light. DAVE: You keep saying that. I don't see the point.  
DOCTOR: Who screamed?  
DAVE: Miss Evangelista.  
DOCTOR: Where is she?  
RIVER: Miss Evangelista, please state your current  
(River's voice echoes from very nearby.)  
RIVER: Please state your current position.  
(River takes a lit comm. unit from the remains of the skeleton's collar.)  
RIVER: It's her. It's Miss Evangelista.  
ANITA: We heard her scream a few seconds ago. What could do that to a person in a few seconds?

'Piranhas?' Bill offered. 'What? We were all taught that a shoal of piranhas would strip you to bone in ten seconds.'

DOCTOR: It took a lot less than a few seconds.  
ANITA: What did?  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Hello?  
RIVER: Er, I'm sorry, everyone. Er, this isn't going to be pleasant. She's ghosting.  
DONNA: She's what?  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Hello? Excuse me. I'm sorry. Hello? Excuse me.

'She's so timid, even after her death.' Rory said angrily. 'Probably because they all bullied her. Made her feel like she didn't deserve a voice.'

DONNA: That's, that's her, that's Miss Evangelista.  
DAVE: I don't want to sound horrible, but couldn't we just, you know?  
RIVER: This is her last moment. No, we can't. A little respect, thank you.  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Sorry, where am I? Excuse me?  
DONNA: But that's Miss Evangelista.  
RIVER: It's a data ghost. She'll be gone in a moment. Miss Evangelista, you're fine. Just relax. We'll be with you presently.  
DONNA: What's a data ghost?  
DOCTOR: There's a neural relay in the communicator. Lets you send thought mail. That's it there. Those green lights. Sometimes it can hold an impression of a living consciousness for a short time after death. Like an afterimage.

Amy abruptly found herself wondering what the Doctor would sound like as a data ghost. What his last thoughts would be. What any of his thoughts were. She couldn't keep up with them most of the time.

DAVE: She's just brain waves now. The pattern won't hold for long.  
DONNA: But, she's conscious. She's thinking.  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: I can't see, I can't. I don't know what I'm thinking.  
DOCTOR: She's a footprint on the beach. And the tide's coming in.

Weren't they all? Smoke in a breeze. Breath on a mirror. Dead, just like that. Amy remembered how she had felt when Rory had died. The Doctor. He'd watched every person in this room slip from his grasp. She tried to imagine that. Losing her best friend – she knew what that was like. She'd sobbed over the Doctor's prone body. She imagined finding a new friend, someone she loved just as much, somehow, because her heart – or, well, hearts – was just that open. And then losing them. Rose. Martha. Donna. Herself. Rory. Clara. And surely – he was roughly a thousand years old. He must have had some before Rose. All gone now.

There were tears in her eyes.

I hate endings.

She couldn't even begin to understand the depths of his losses. No wonder. No wonder he hated them. They were inevitable when one lived for what was effectively forever. A human could not hope to grasp that. But no wonder he clung so hard to them – I'm running to you before you fade from me. She'd never believed it would happen, but how heavy those words were now. The Doctor didn't have a happy ending. He didn't have an end. He had to face the universe and its myriad of cruelties alone.

And the Doctor was smiling at her, soft and sad and full of love. The grief he must carry, and yet he still smiled.

EVANGELISTA [OC]: Where's that woman? The nice woman. Is she there?  
LUX: What woman?  
DONNA: She means. I think she means me.  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Is she there? The nice woman.  
RIVER: Yes, she's here. Hang on. Go ahead. She can hear you.  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Hello? Are you there?  
DOCTOR: Help her.  
DONNA: She's dead.  
DOCTOR: Yeah. Help her.  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Hello? Is that the nice woman?  
DONNA: Yeah. Hello. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm here. You okay?  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: What I said before, about being stupid. Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.  
DONNA: Course I won't. Course I won't tell them.  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.  
DONNA: I won't tell them. I said I won't.  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.  
DONNA: I'm not going to tell them.  
(The green light starts blinking.)  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.  
RIVER: She's looping now. The pattern's degrading.  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: I can't think. I don't know, I, I, I, I scream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream.  
RIVER: Does anybody mind if I?  
EVANGELISTA [OC]: Ice cream. Ice cream.  
(River turns off the comm. unit.)  
DONNA: That was, that was horrible. That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen.  
RIVER: No. It's just a freak of technology. But whatever did this to her, whatever killed her, I'd like a word with that.  
DOCTOR: I'll introduce you.

Everyone found themselves wiping tears from their eyes.

[Rotunda]

DOCTOR: I'm going to need a packed lunch.  
RIVER: Hang on.  
DOCTOR: What's in that book?  
RIVER: Spoilers.  
DOCTOR: Who are you?  
RIVER: Professor River Song, University of-  
DOCTOR: To me. Who are you to me?

'How long have you got.' Amy murmured.

RIVER: Again, spoilers. Chicken and a bit of salad. Knock yourself out.  
DOCTOR: Right, you lot. Let's all meet the Vashta Nerada. [Girl's home] (The girl throws the remote control on the floor.)  
FATHER: Darling, Doctor Moon is going now, but he'd like a word with you alone. Is that all right?  
GIRL: Yes, of course, Doctor Moon.  
MOON: Thank you. Now, listen. This is important. There's the real world, and there's the world of nightmares. That's right, isn't it? You understand that? GIRL: Yes, I know, Doctor Moon.  
MOON: What I want you to remember is this, and I know it's hard. The real world is a lie, and your nightmares are real. The library is real. There are people trapped in there, people who need to be saved. The shadows are moving again. Those people are depending on you. Only you can save them. Only you.

Clara took an unsteady breath, but she couldn't calm the panic thrashing in her stomach. The memories were becoming uncomfortably clear.

'I'm so sorry.' She said, and she ran. A door appeared in the wall and she bolted through it. Eleven waited barely a second, and followed, shutting the door behind him.

[Rotunda]

(The Doctor is scanning the floor with his sonic screwdriver.)  
RIVER: You travel with him, don't you? The Doctor, you travel with him.  
DONNA: What of it?  
DOCTOR: Proper Dave, could you move over a bit?  
DAVE: Why?  
DOCTOR: Over there by the water cooler. Thanks.  
DONNA: You know him, don't you?  
RIVER: Oh God, do I know that man. We go way back. Just not this far back.  
DONNA: I'm sorry, what?

'To be fair, it is a pretty unreal thing to meet someone else who knows the Doctor.' Rose murmured. She was talking about Sarah Jane. Meeting her had thrown her, made her scared in a way an alien never could. Well, the Doctor could, of course.

RIVER: He hasn't met me yet. I sent him a message, but it went wrong. It arrived too early. This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me. And he looks at me, he looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does.

Rory remembered that conversation very well. It was one of the only times River had truly opened up to him.

DONNA: What are you talking about? Are you just talking rubbish? Do you know him or don't you?  
DOCTOR: Donna! Quiet, I'm working.  
DONNA: Sorry.  
RIVER: Donna. You're Donna. Donna Noble.  
DONNA: Yeah. Why?  
RIVER: I do know the Doctor, but in the future. His personal future.

'Yeah, you could say that.' Amy said, and rolled her eyes.

DONNA: So why don't you know me? Where am I in the future?  
DOCTOR: Okay, got a live one. That's not darkness down those tunnels. This is not a shadow. It's a swarm. A man eating swarm.  
(The Doctor throws a chicken leg into the shadow. It is only bone by the time it hits the floor.)  
DOCTOR: The piranhas of the air. The Vashta Nerada. Literally, the shadows that melt the flesh. Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive.  
DONNA: What do you mean, most planets? Not Earth?  
DOCTOR: Mmm. Earth, and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see them sometimes, if you look. The dust in sunbeams.

'Eurgh, that is horrible to think about.' Martha said. 'Wait, they have Vashta Nerada on Gallifrey? Because that would be an awkward regeneration. Eaten by dust.'

DONNA: If they were on Earth, we'd know.  
DOCTOR: Nah. Normally they live on road kill. But sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark.  
RIVER: Every shadow?  
DOCTOR: No. But any shadow.  
RIVER: So what do we do?  
DOCTOR: Daleks, aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans, back of the neck. Vashta Nerada? Run. Just run.

'Well, you're good at that, boss.' Mickey said.

RIVER: Run? Run where?  
DOCTOR: This is an index point. There must be an exit teleport somewhere.  
LUX: Don't look at me, I haven't memorised the schematics.  
DONNA: Doctor, the little shop. They always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff.

'That's clever. I never would have thought of that.' Clara said admirably.

DAVE: Okay, let's move it.  
He heads towards the shop but the Doctor spots something.  
DOCTOR: Actually, Proper Dave? Could you stay where you are for a moment?  
DAVE: Why?  
DOCTOR: I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows.  
(He has, at right angles to each other.)  
DOCTOR: It's how they hunt. They latch on to a food source and keep it fresh.  
DAVE: What do I do?  
DOCTOR: You stay absolutely still, like there's a wasp in the room. Like there's a million wasps.

'Or one absolutely stinking massive one.' Donna said sullenly. 'Actually no. We did run from that.'

RIVER: We're not leaving you, Dave.  
DOCTOR: Course we're not leaving him. Where's your helmet? Don't point, just tell me.  
DAVE: On the floor, by my bag.  
(Anita goes to get it.)  
DOCTOR: Don't cross his shadow. Thanks. Now, the rest of you, helmets back on and sealed up. We'll need everything we've got.  
(The Doctor puts Dave's helmet on him.)  
DONNA: But, Doctor, we haven't got any helmets.  
DOCTOR: Yeah, but we're safe anyway.  
DONNA: How are we safe?  
DOCTOR: We're not. That was a clever lie to shut you up. Professor, anything I can do with the suit?

'Doctor, you suck at being honest. The point of a reassuring lie is not to immediately tell the person you lied to that you lied. It's decidedly unhelpful.'

LUX: What good are the damn suits? Miss Evangelista was wearing her suit. There was nothing left.  
RIVER: We can increase the mesh density. Dial it up four hundred percent. Make it a tougher meal.  
DOCTOR: Okay.  
(The Doctor uses his screwdriver to adjust Dave's suit.)  
DOCTOR: Eight hundred percent. Pass it on.  
RIVER: Gotcha.  
(River holds up a sonic screwdriver of her own.)  
DOCTOR: What's that?  
RIVER: It's a screwdriver.  
DOCTOR: It's sonic.

'I gave someone my screwdriver!' Nine said, face a comic picture of shock and disbelief. 'Did you steal it?'

RIVER: Yeah, I know. Snap.  
(River upgrades everyone's spacesuit. The Doctor grabs Donna.)  
DOCTOR: With me. Come on.

[Shop]

DONNA: What are we doing? We shopping? Is it a good time to shop?  
(There is a lectern by a small dais with three roundels in it.)  
DOCTOR: No talking, just moving. Try it. Right, stand there in the middle. It's a teleport. Stand in the middle. Can't send the others, Tardis won't recognise them.  
DONNA: What are you doing?  
DOCTOR: You don't have a suit. You're not safe.  
DONNA: You don't have a suit, so you're in just as much danger as I am and I'm not leaving you  
DOCTOR: Donna, let me explain.  
(Donna teleports away.)  
DOCTOR: Oh, that's how you do it.  
RIVER [OC]: Doctor.

'Oh, he always does that, too.' Rose said, annoyed. 'Making decisions for you. Sending you away.'

'He did it to me.' River said.

'And us.' Rory and Amy.

'Yup. Me too.' Clara.

'Well, I got my own back by tearing the TARDIS apart.' Rose said fiercely.

'Like a puppy that had been left on its own for the first time.' Nine said exasperatedly.

'No.' Rose said, and a strange, powerful look came over her face. 'Not a puppy. A wolf.'

[Rotunda]

(Donna starts to materialise inside the Tardis, then flickers, screams, and vanishes.)  
DOCTOR: Where did it go?  
DAVE: It's just gone. I looked round, one shadow, see.  
RIVER: Does that mean we can leave? I don't want to hang around here.  
LUX: I don't know why we're still here. We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence

'Someone knock his teeth down his throat.' Rose snapped. 'What?'

RIVER: Shut up, Mister Lux.  
DOCTOR: Did you feel anything, like an energy transfer? Anything at all?  
DAVE: No, no, but look, it's gone.  
(Dave turns around.)  
DOCTOR: Stop there. Stop, stop, stop there. Stop moving. They're never just gone and they never give up.  
(He sonics the floor by Dave.) DOCTOR: Well, this one's benign.  
DAVE: Hey, who turned out the lights?  
DOCTOR: No one, they're fine.

'Oh no.' Amy murmured. She remembered that time when House was chasing them through the TARDIS, and had made her believe it was dark. How horribly scary that had felt.

DAVE: No seriously, turn them back on.  
RIVER: They are on.  
DAVE: I can't see a ruddy thing.  
DOCTOR: Dave, turn around.  
(Dave turns back to the Doctor, his visor completely dark.)  
DAVE: What's going on? Why can't I see? Is the power gone? Are we safe here?  
DOCTOR: Dave, I want you stay still. Absolutely still.  
(Dave jerks.)  
DOCTOR: Dave? Dave? Dave, can you hear me? Are you all right? Talk to me, Dave.  
DAVE: I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm fine.  
DOCTOR: I want you to stay still. Absolutely still.  
DAVE: I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm fine. I can't. Why can't I? I, I can't. Why can't I? I, I can't. Why can't I? I  
(Dave's comm. unit lights blink.)

'Oh, my god.' Martha said, horrified. 'He's…dead.'

RIVER: He's gone. He's ghosting.  
LUX: Then why is he still standing?  
DAVE: Hey, who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?  
RIVER: Doctor, don't.  
DOCTOR: Dave, can you hear me?  
DAVE: Hey, who turned out the lights?  
(Dave grabs the Doctor by the throat. A skull is now visible in his helmet.)

Rose yelped in shock. 'Oh, that's horrible!'

DAVE: Who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?  
RIVER: Excuse me.  
(River zaps the zombie with her sonic screwdriver, freeing the Doctor.)  
DOCTOR: Back from it! Get back. Right back.  
(Zombie Dave lurches a step towards them.)  
RIVER: Doesn't move very fast, does it?  
DOCTOR: It's a swarm in a suit. But it's learning.  
(Zombie Dave has four shadows, and they are growing.)  
LUX: What do we do? Where do we go?  
RIVER: See that wall behind you? Duck.  
(River fires a gun at the wall and makes a square hole in it.)  
DOCTOR: Squareness gun!  
RIVER: Everybody out. Go, go, go. Move it. Move, move. Move it. Move, move.

'I like to…' Mickey laughed. River glared at him.

[Stacks]

RIVER: You said not every shadow.  
DOCTOR: But any shadow.

'Well, that's comforting.' Rory muttered.

DAVE: Hey, who turned out the lights?  
RIVER: Run!

[Girl's home]

FATHER: Sweetie, dinner's ready.  
GIRL: Donna Noble has been saved.  
FATHER: Sweetie?

'She doesn't look saved!'

[Stacks]

(Somewhere amongst the massive shelves of books, the Doctor is trying to sonic a light fitting.)  
DOCTOR: Trying to boost the power. Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down.

'Well, something that does stop them would be helpful instead.' Donna said. 'Maybe push a shelf over on top of them.'

RIVER: So, what's the plan? Do we have a plan?  
DOCTOR: Your screwdriver looks exactly like mine.  
RIVER: Yeah. You gave it to me.  
DOCTOR: I don't give my screwdriver to anyone.  
RIVER: I'm not anyone.  
DOCTOR: Who are you?

'Time and a place, Doctor!' Amy prompted. She looked rather stressed by the situation.

RIVER: What's the plan?  
DOCTOR: I teleported Donna back to the Tardis. If we don't get back there in under five hours, emergency program one will activate.  
RIVER: Take her home, yeah. We need to get a shift on.

Rose scowled. She knew program one very well.

'So not only did you send me away without asking, you were going to send me home!' Rightly, and comically, Donna slapped the Doctor. 'I deserve a choice in these things! And not like it did any good, spaceman.'

DOCTOR: She's not there. I should have received a signal. The console signals me if there's a teleport breach.  
RIVER: Well, maybe the coordinates have slipped. The equipment here's ancient.

'Not as ancient as you, Doctor.' Rose said teasingly.

(The Doctor goes to a nearby Node.)  
DOCTOR: Donna Noble. There's a Donna Noble somewhere in this library. Do you have the software to locate her position?  
(The node turns its head. It has Donna's face.)

Amy was horrified, eyes widening at the sight. It was impossible. Surely. But River had had no knowledge of Donna, or at least, seemed to suggest Donna wasn't in the Doctor's future. Was this it? The moment he lost her? She looked to him, expecting that he might need comforting, but he simply stared at the screen, carefully still.

DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.  
DOCTOR: Donna.  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.  
RIVER: How can it be Donna? How's that possible?  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.  
DOCTOR: Donna.  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library.

They all felt the on-screen Doctor's fear, the way he completely seemed at a lost. Of course. He thought his best friend was dead.

DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.  
RIVER: How can it be Donna? How's that possible?  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.  
DOCTOR: Donna.  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library.  
DAVE [OC]: Hey, who turned out the lights?  
RIVER: Doctor!

Rose felt pity curl in her stomach. He'd have to run. Leave her behind. That was the most terrifying things about travelling, just behind being unceremoniously dumped somewhere. Having to leave someone where they fell, to save yourself. No bodies in the Library? Well, there would be now. It reminded Rose of people who climbed Mount Everest. They had to step over the dead who had died to get there. In the archaeologist's attempt to discover what had happened to kill the people there, they had simply added to the tragedy.

DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has been saved.  
DAVE [OC]: Hey, who turned out the lights?  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library.  
RIVER: Doctor, we've got to go now!  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has been saved.  
DAVE: Hey, Who turned out the lights?  
(River and the Doctor run, followed by Lux, the other Dave and Anita.)  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.  
DAVE: Hey, who turned out the lights?  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.  
DAVE: Hey, who turned out the lights?  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.  
DAVE: Hey, who turned out the lights?  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library.  
(The group are trapped between shadows.)  
RIVER: Doctor, what are we going to do?  
DAVE: Hey, who turned out the lights?  
DONNA NODE: Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.

END CREDITS

TO BE CONTINUED.

'It better be.' Rose said, voice fraught with worry. 'How in the hell did you get out of that one?'


	4. Forest of the Dead

Forest of the Dead

‘You know, it’s hard not to read into the fact that there are so many girls in this room.’ Clara said idly. ‘It’s not very equal-opportunity. You’ve practically got a harem.’   
Amy smiled at that; she’d made a similar conclusion herself when she’d seen all the previous inhabitants of the TARDIS. She’d – embarrassingly – thought his purpose for taking her with him was nefarious, and she’d been down for that. She’d been naïve about the whole thing, and thankfully it had turned out fine and she hadn’t done something she’d regretted. Though, looking around – at Rose, married to someone who looked exactly like the Doctor, and Clara, who was giving Eleven heart eyes, she seemed an exception to the rules rather than the norm.   
Of course, the Doctor wouldn’t want her to give up Rory for him. The Doctor was a – what, 2000, now? – year old alien. He could never give her forever. Rory could. And she loved Rory, course she did – it was always him. She always circled back to him; she’d confused the feeling of infinity she felt when the Doctor was around with love.   
She’d grown up a lot since then.   
‘What’s a harem?’ Martha asked.   
‘It’s a thing in anime.’ Clara said. ‘Japanese anime. It’s a guy who has like, every guy he meets fall in love with him. Despite him usually being a boring, plain- it’s a fantasy thingy. So maybe not quite accurate.’   
‘Oh, then definitely. Yes.’  
‘I used to make Rory watch anime with me.’ Amy said. ‘I lost interest in it when we did World War Two in school.’   
‘That was nasty.’ Rose interrupted. ‘My history teacher used to say America “bombed the masculinity out of them”. I suppose that was true. Anime was an attempt to make Japan look like the victim.’   
‘It was kind of hard to enjoy it after that.’  
‘But Japan were the victim.’ Rory said. ‘They dropped atomic bombs on them. They didn’t deserve that! No one does. They’re still dying of radiation poison today.’   
‘You just weren’t paying attention to the other side.’ Amy said grimly. ‘Japan were… well. I remember pieces. Nanking.’   
Rose got a sour look on her face. ‘After the War was over – Hitler killed himself, and the Americans were liberating the Jews and that from the camps – Japan refused to surrender. They were willing to let so many civilians die during the invasion – Operation Downfall – that the bombs were the better option.’   
‘And they deserved it.’ Younger Rose said. ‘Their disregard for human life…’  
‘The Americans disregarded human life when they dropped two atomic bombs on their heads! 200,000 people died, in an instant. Vaporised. Men, women, children…’   
‘They deserved it. They were willing to let so many more die at the hands of the invasion. And the scale of Japanese war crimes…they deserved a hundred atomic bombs. That would probably decimate earth. Never mind. Still! They should have been wiped from the map.’   
‘I learnt,’ Amy said, and took a deep breath. ‘I learnt about the Nanking Massacre. Any way you can imagine killing a human being, they did. They made them dig mass graves and lined them up in front of it. Then they beheaded the front row, and made the people behind them push the bodies in the graves, and then repeated it with the next road. They raped any woman they came across. Girls. Then they killed them. Left them in the streets with bayonets sticking out of them. They held contests to see who could kill 100 people first. Etc. Wow, I did not know I remembered that.’   
‘I am become death, the Destroyer of Worlds.’ Clara quoted. ‘Bit big for his boots, if you ask me. We’re a long away from that. No doubt the great and bountiful human empires will get there, but for now…’  
Just as she said that, the TV began its countdown again. 

OPENING CREDITS  
INT. LIBRARY, STACKS   
PROPER DAVE Hey, who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?   
RIVER uses the squareness gun on the wall behind them.   
RIVER This way! Quickly Move!   
They climb through the opening. PROPER DAVE  
Hey, who turned out the lights?  
Hey, who turned out the lights?

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL is watching TV and can see what's happening in The Library.

GIRL  
Dad! The Library, it's on television now.

Her FATHER is doing the washing up in the kitchen.

FATHER  
How many times, darling. The Library is just your imagination.  
‘Well, he’s understanding.’ Amy grumbled.

The GIRL changes the channels and the TV shows different areas of The Library. She changes it again and an ambulance pulls up in front of a manor house hospital. The medics open the back doors and take out the gurney. Lying on the gurney, under a red blanket, is DONNA.  
‘But that- that’s Donna! She was dead! Obviously not dead. I’m glad.’ Clara said.   
GIRL  
Donna?

INT. HOSPITAL, DONNA'S ROOM

DONNA is dressed in pyjamas and is sitting on the bed. There is a knock on the door and DR MOON enters. DONNA stands.

DONNA  
Who are you?

MOON  
I'm Dr Moon. I've been treating you since you came here two years ago.  
‘Wait…if the girl thinks the Library is in her imagination, how did she get Donna from there to the girl’s dream? And if she appeared in the Library as a face, that means the girl must have a face in the Library too…’ Rose mused. She was most of the way right, of course. She was always clever, his Rose.   
DONNA  
(sudden realization) Oh, God-Dr Moon! I'm so sorry. What's wrong with me? I didn't know you for a moment.

MOON  
And then you remembered. Shall we go for a walk?  
‘God, he’s not creepy at all.’ Amy said scathingly. ‘He’s not, like, controlling her mind…is he?’ She knew what that felt like. Knew how it was to have her memory manipulated. This time, it wasn’t her, but it stirred memories she’d rather not think about. Clara looked similarly worried.   
MOON  
No more dreams, then? The Doctor and the blue box, time and space?

Donna is looking about, confused.

DONNA  
How did we get here?  
‘It’s like TV!’ Rose said. ‘On TV. That’ll get confusing. But you know, you’re watching telly and you skip around times and sets so it doesn’t take too long to get through. I’ve never really thought…what if time did pass like that? It’d be so bizarre.’

MOON  
We came down the stairs, out the front door; we passed Mrs Ali on the way out.

They look back at the building to see another patient walking with a nurse. The sign in front reads: CAL.  
‘It’s that name!’ Rory pointed out. ‘CAL. From the guy.’   
DONNA  
Yeah. Yeah, we did. I forgot that.

MOON  
And then you remembered. Shall we go down to the river?  
Amy shuddered. ‘Oh, he’s definitely doing something. Changing memories. That’s just weird.’

Sudden cut to-

EXT. DAY, RIVERBANK

They are standing beside the river, ducks quacking. DONNA is trying to remember.

DONNA  
You said "river"...and suddenly we're feeding ducks.  
‘Dream checks.’ Clara said, voice only shaking slightly. ‘She needs to do dream checks. See if what’s around her is- if it’s real.’ She reached for Eleven’s hand, and he took it.   
LEE  
Dr Moon!

DR MOON and DONNA turn to see a man dressed for fishing-LEE.

LEE  
Morning!

MOON  
Donna Noble, Lee McAvoy.

DONNA  
Hello, Lee.

LEE  
Hello D-D-

DONNA  
Ooh, you've got a bit of a stammer there. (turns to DR MOON) Bless.  
Amy found herself cringing slightly at Donna’s insensitivity. Her aunt, though a bit absent, had always taught her to show respect to people. Donna was a little careless about all of that. Fun to witness, but a bit abrasive.   
LEE  
D-D-

DONNA  
Oh, skip to a vowel, they're easy.

Sudden cut to-

EXT. DAY, HOSPITAL GROUNDS

DONNA and DR MOON are walking back.

DONNA  
How did we leave it, him and me?

MOON  
I got the impression he was inviting you fishing tomorrow.

Sudden cut to-

INT. LEE'S ROOM

DONNA arrives at LEE'S room dressed for a date. LEE is wearing wellies.

DONNA  
So...fishing?

Sudden cut to-

EXT. EVENING, RIVERBANK

DONNA and LEE are sitting by the river under an umbrella in the rain.

LEE  
D-D-

DONNA  
Gorgeous, and can't speak a word. What am I gonna do with you?

Sudden cut to-

INT. McAVOY HOME, FRONT HALLWAY

LEE carries DONNA--still wearing a wedding gown--over the threshold.

LEE  
Welcome home, M-Mrs McAvoy. (kisses her)  
Everyone found themselves laughing at that, at the smoothness of the transition, of Donna’s misunderstanding and wearing a dress to fish. But underneath it was the worry. Donna was missing huge chunks of her time, missing conversations, and being told by the creepy Dr Moon the gaps. He could tell her anything, and she could hardly say he was wrong. She was at his mercy.   
And that didn’t sit right any better than carnivorous shadows.   
Sudden cut to-

INT. McAVOY HOME, LIVING ROOM

DR MOON is looking through a photo album while DONNA'S two children run around playing.

DONNA  
Stop it. Stop it now. We've got a visitor.

MOON  
You've done so much in seven years, Donna.

DONNA  
(sighs) Sometimes it feels more like 70. Mind you, sometimes it feels like not time at all.  
‘Dream checks.’ Clara muttered sadly. 

DR MOON picks up his briefcase which bears the letters "CAL"  
‘There again.’ Rory said. ‘That Lux man is involved. He did seem like a bit-‘  
‘Of a dick, yeah.’ Amy finished.   
MOON  
Can I just say what a pleasure it is to see you fully integrated.  
‘Integrated?’ Rose said. ‘Well that’s a nice word. Not worrying at all. Kidnaps someone and plays with their perception of memory and time, and when they don’t think anything is wrong, say they’re integrated. Nutters say that.’

DR MOON'S image flickers and the DOCTOR'S appears.

DOCTOR  
No, the signal definitely seems to be coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through. (sees DONNA) Donna! (disappears and MOON returns)   
MOON  
(belches) Oops. Sorry. Mrs Angelo's rhubarb surprise. When will I ever learn?  
‘Gross.’ Amy muttered.

DONNA falls into a chair, shocked.

DONNA  
(gasps) The Doctor! I saw the Doctor!

MOON  
Yes, you did, Donna. And then...you forgot.  
‘He didn’t!’ Rose said angrily. ‘How is she going to get rescued if she can’t remember who’s going to come for her?’   
DONNA  
(stands, acting like MOON has just arrived) Dr Moon, Well, hello! Shall I make you a cup of tea?  
Amy shivered. It reminded her of the Silence. As soon as you looked away, you forgot they were there. That’s how Donna looked. It wasn’t right to do that to someone!  
INT. LIBRARY, STACKS

Over The Library, a large moon appears in the twilight sky. RIVER uses the squareness gun to take them into another reading room similar to the first.  
Rory half sat up. ‘I wonder…’  
RIVER  
Okay, we've got a clear spot! In, in, in!

INT. LIBRARY, RED DOMED READING ROOM

They enter the room and the DOCTOR immediately begins checking the shadows.

RIVER  
Right in the centre, in the middle of the light, quickly! Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor!

DOCTOR  
I'm doing it.

RIVER  
There's no lights here. Sunset's coming. We can't stay long. Have you found a live one?

DOCTOR  
Maybe. It's getting harder to tell. (taps sonic screwdriver, which is flickering) What's wrong with you?  
‘Let me know when it answers you.’ Rose said, teasingly. ‘Or don’t, you’ll probably add a setting, and that’ll be creepy.’

RIVER  
We're gonna need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg? (OTHER DAVE hands her one) Thanks, Dave. (throws it into shadow where it is stripped) Okay, we got a hot one. Watch your feet.

DOCTOR  
They won't attack until there's enough of them. But they've got our scent now. They're coming.  
‘Hunted by shadows.’ Clara said. ‘Sounds like a bad YA novel. Also not something I’d want to try.’ Of course, she’d been in the Library, in one of her many lives. She’d fed the echo version of the Great Intelligence to the shadows, and then threw the body off the edge of the world. And she’d began to walk down the steps. That’s when she’d seen she had more shadows than she should.  
At least, it had been quick. Barely painful. Over as soon as it had begun. 

The DOCTOR is in the foreground checking the shadows while the members of the expedition talk behind him.  
OTHER DAVE  
Who is he? You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him.

RIVER  
He's the Doctor.

LUX  
And who is "the Doctor"?  
‘You’ll die asking.’ Bill muttered.  
RIVER  
The only story you'll ever tell-if you survive him.   
‘That is so not true!’ Rose’s voice was high with anger. ‘The Doctor left me – and I carried on with my life! I joined UNIT. I fought aliens. And this other lady – he left her, Sarah Jane Smith, and she started to investigate things, aliens, too. She made a difference. The Doctor made her better, and she carried on after him.’  
‘He left me, too.’ Clara said. ‘Ish. Forgot about me. But I travelled too, with someone who needed my help. I saved people. When the Doctor was away, or grieving, or busy – on top of a cloud, or a monk – I kept the legend alive.’   
‘I became a nurse.’ Amy said. ‘Slightly less impressive, I suppose, but I couldn’t sit and do nothing, not while people were suffering. Rory was fighting, I had to help too- somehow. I wrote a book about being in the War. And one about places on earth to see, so people could get out there and experience adventure, like I did. Even without the Doctor. I only wrote the Melody Malone books to avoid blowing Manhatten to hell in a time crunch.’  
‘I left the Doctor.’ Bill said. ‘Travelled the universe with my girlfriend. I wanted to see things. I have stories too, and not a lot of them involve the Doctor. The Doctor might be the be-all and end-all of you, but not for us.’  
‘I became a Doctor myself.’ Martha said. ‘I was training long before I met the actual Doctor. Then afterwards I joined UNIT, and then Torchwood. Then freelance. Defending the earth.’   
‘I killed a lot of cybermen.’ Mickey said. ‘It felt right.’   
Younger Rose. ‘I became the Bad Wolf. I destroyed the entire Dalek fleet, and the Dalek Emperor. The Doctor might not be able to cope on his own, but we can.’  
ANITA  
You say he's your friend but he doesn't even know who you are.

RIVER  
Listen. All you need to know is this: I'd trust that man to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been.   
‘Me too.’ Martha said.   
‘Yeah.’ Clara. ‘I met what was potentially my great-grandson. Hazard of time-travelling!’  
ANITA  
He doesn't act like he trusts you.

RIVER  
(nods) Yeah, there's a tiny problem-he hasn't met me yet. (walks to the DOCTOR who is holding the sonic screwdriver to his ear) What's wrong with it?

DOCTOR  
There's a signal coming from somewhere interfering with it.

RIVER  
Use the red settings.

DOCTOR  
It doesn't have a red setting.

RIVER  
Well, use the dampers.

DOCTOR  
It doesn't have dampers.

RIVER  
It will do one day. (holds her screwdriver out)  
‘Surely, as you knew that, you’d know he doesn’t have them yet. It’s pretty obvious to figure out. Or were you just showing off that the future Doctor gave you a better screwdriver than he currently had? Are you stupid?’ Rose spat.   
DOCTOR  
(takes it from her and stands) So, some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver?

RIVER  
Yeah.

DOCTOR  
Why would I do that?

RIVER  
I didn't pluck it from your cold, dead hands if that's what you're worried about.

DOCTOR  
And I know that because...  
‘Well, she is an archaeologist.’ Amy said.   
RIVER  
Listen to me. You've lost your friend, you're angry. I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor, right now.

DOCTOR  
Less emo-I'm not emotional!  
Rory shifted, kind of uncomfortably, at that. ‘Listen…Melody. Not everyone is bred a psychopath. By normal standards the Doctor is not being emotional.’   
‘Oh, that explains everything!’ Rose snapped. ‘A psychopath. No wonder you only think about yourself.’ 

RIVER  
There are five people in this room still alive. Focus on that. Dear God, you're hard work young.  
Ten grabbed Rose’s arm to stop her lunging at River.   
DOCTOR  
Young? Who are you?!  
LUX  
For Heaven's sake! (stands and walks towards them) Look at the pair of you! We're all gonna die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple.  
Amy burst out laughing at that – it was somewhat true, at least in that aborted reality, but what happened in an alternate and collapsing timeline, stayed in the alternate, collapsing timeline. Namely, her committing murder. But also marriage at the end of reality.   
Some of the tension in the room eased, just a little.   
RIVER  
Doctor... One day I'm going to be someone you trust completely. But I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really...very sorry.

RIVER whispers in the DOCTOR'S ear. When she's done, he can only stare at her, stunned.  
RIVER  
Are we good? Doctor...are we good?

DOCTOR  
(softly) Yeah. (little louder) Yeah, we're good.

RIVER  
Good. (takes screwdriver and walks away)

The DOCTOR takes a few moments to collect himself before returning to the problem at hand.  
He’d known, in that moment, that she was his future wife – that was the only reason she’d know his name, the only reason he could think to give it to her. And so they must have fallen in love.   
The foreknowledge of that had been every bit as damning for him as reading Amy and Rory’s name on their graves.   
DOCTOR  
Know what's interesting about my screwdriver? Very hard to interfere with, practically nothing strong enough... Well, maybe some hairdryers, but I'm working on that. So, there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before, so what's new, what's changed? Come on, what's new?! What's different?!  
‘You just love doing that.’ Clara sighed. ‘Asking around the room so you can look all the more impressive when everyone’s stumped except you. And you say I’ve got egomania.’ She was joking, of course. The Doctor had the self-esteem of the ugly duckling. Sometimes. Sometimes he got caught up in megalomania and fancied himself a god, and that’s when he needed a human to smack some sense back into him.   
OTHER DAVE  
I dunno. Nothing. It's getting dark.

DOCTOR  
It's a screwdriver. It works in the dark. (looks up) Moonrise. (to LUX) Tell me about the moon. What's there?

LUX  
It's not real. It was built as part of The Library. It's just a doctor moon.  
‘Oh, right!’ Rory said. ‘That guy – the therapist – he’s part of the computer? Makes sense why he can delete memories.’  
DOCTOR  
What's a doctor moon?

LUX  
A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet.  
Everything was clicking into place. Clara knew. The girl was the computer. She lived a normal, simulated life, and her brainwaves were used to power the computer. He humanity sacrificed for the Library. But at least, maybe – she had the Library to keep her occupied.   
She frowned. It didn’t quite add up. Maybe this girl – maybe she wasn’t real. An AI. An avatar. But she still thought she was alive, and when she found out she wasn’t.  
DOCTOR  
(tests with sonic screwdriver) Well, it's still active-it's signalling, look. Someone somewhere in this library is alive and communicating with the moon. Or possibly alive and drying their hair. No, the signal is definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through-

RIVER  
Doctor.

The DOCTOR turns and sees a projection of DONNA.

DOCTOR  
Donna!

The projection disappears.  
RIVER  
That was her. That was your friend. Can you get her back? What was that?

DOCTOR  
Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm trying to find the wavelength. Argh! I'm being blocked!

ANITA  
Professor...

RIVER  
Just a moment.  
Rose groaned. ‘You think they’d have learned not to ignore people trying to get their attention after what happened to that lady, Miss Evangelista.’   
ANITA  
(teary) It's important. I have two shadows.

RIVER  
Helmets on, everyone. Anita, I'll get yours.

ANITA  
Didn't do Proper Dave any good.

RIVER  
Just keep it together, okay?

ANITA  
I'm keeping it together. I'm only crying. I'm about to die. It's not an overreaction.  
‘I liked her.’ Amy said. ‘And even if I didn’t – she doesn’t deserve to die.’ But it was inevitable that she would, the shadows stripping her flesh.   
‘She’s being very brave.’ Martha said.   
‘It’s a good idea, tinting the helmets.’ Clara admitted. ‘That way, the others won’t see her die, and they’ll be removed enough from her death that they’ll believe they have a chance to survive.’   
RIVER puts ANITA'S helmet on for her as the DOCTOR faces her.

DOCTOR  
Hang on. (uses the sonic screwdriver to block her visor)

RIVER  
Oh, God, they've got inside.

DOCTOR  
No, no-I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already is there and leave her alone.  
‘Ever the optimist.’ Amy said fondly.   
RIVER  
You think they could be fooled like that?

DOCTOR  
Maybe. I don't know. It's a swarm-it's not like we chat.  
‘I refuse to believe there is anything in the universe you can’t talk to.’ Younger Rose said. ‘You can talk five billion languages. You always make an offer for peace.’   
OTHER DAVE  
Can you still see in there?

ANITA  
Just about.

DOCTOR  
Just-just-just stay back. Professor, quick word, please.

RIVER  
What?

DOCTOR  
(squats) Down here.

RIVER  
(squats beside him) What is it?

DOCTOR  
You said there are five people still alive in this room.

RIVER  
Yeah, so?

DOCTOR  
So... (whispers) why are there six?

They turn to the opening where another suited figure stands. "PROPER DAVE" has found them.

PROPER DAVE  
Hey, who turned out the lights?  
‘How did we not see that-‘ Amy gasped. It was like being back in the tunnels under the Byzantium – realising that, instead of being surrounded by Aplan statues commemorating the dead, they were in the depths of thousands of weeping angels. A sinking terror.   
DOCTOR  
Run!

They all run from the room. "PROPER DAVE" follows.

PROPER DAVE  
Hey, who turned out the lights?

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL is watching on TV as "PROPER DAVE" chases the others.

PROPER DAVE  
(on TV) Hey, who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?

The GIRL changes the channel to see DONNA bringing in some tea.

DONNA  
(on TV) Here you are, Dr Moon.

INT. McAVOY HOME, LIVING ROOM

DONNA is surprised that DR MOON isn't there. Her daughter, ELLA, comes running up.

ELLA  
Mummy, I made you! (she holds up a figure made in clay)

DONNA  
Oh, that's nice, Ella. Where's the face?

ELLA  
I don't know.

DONNA  
(sets down tea) Did you see Dr Moon? Did he leave?

LEE appears in the doorway.

CHILDREN  
Daddy! (they run to him)

LEE  
(gets down) Hello, you two! Come here. Big hugs. (they hug him) Big Daddy hugs.

ELLA  
Look what I made.

LEE  
Oh? It's Mummy?

DONNA  
It hasn't got a face. Did you see Dr Moon?  
‘Maybe it hasn’t got a face because Donna’s face is on one of those creepy statue things.’  
LEE  
No. Why, was he here?

DONNA  
Yeah, just a second ago. You must've passed him.

DONNA walks to the window in time to see the black train of an old-fashioned woman's gown disappear behind some trees.  
Of course it wouldn’t take long for her computer-simulated reality to start falling apart. But if Donna had a Doctor Moon, she must be in the same world as the little girl. Clara hoped she could find her. Perhaps the Doctor would rescue both of them.   
LEE  
You all right?

DONNA  
Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, it's just...

LEE  
Just...

DONNA  
Nothing. (hugs him) It's been a long day, that's all. I'm just tired.

Sudden cut to-

INT. McAVOY HOME, MASTER BEDROOM

DONNA is in pyjamas and confused as to how she got there.

LEE  
You okay?

DONNA  
I said I was tired. And... (slowly remembers) we put the kids to bed and watched television.  
Lee nods along with her. They hear the creaking of the front door mail slot.

DONNA  
Was that a letter?

LEE  
It's midnight.

DONNA  
Go and see what it is.

LEE goes downstairs and DONNA looks out the window. She sees a veiled woman all in black walk slowly across the street.

LEE  
(returning) The world is wrong.

DONNA  
(looks at him) What?

LEE  
For you, weird enough. (reads) "Dear Donna, the world is wrong. Meet me at your usual play park 2:00 tomorrow."  
‘And you know it’s wrong.’ Ten said quietly, and sadly. ‘Come on, Donna. Wake up.’   
LEE hands her the note and she walks to the window. LEE comes up behind her. They both look out to see the woman walk away.

DONNA  
Nutter.

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL is on the couch, hugging her legs.

GIRL  
Don't go. Please don't go.  
‘How does she know everything that’s going on?’ Rory asked.   
EXT. DAY, PLAYGROUND

DONNA arrives with JOSHUA and ELLA. She sees the mysterious woman sitting on a bench, the veil covering her face.

DONNA  
(to children) All right, you two, off you go. No fighting.  
‘Yeah, they’re going to fight.’ Clara said. ‘Children always do.’   
The children run off laughing and DONNA walks towards the woman.

DONNA  
(sits on bench) I got your note last night. "The world is wrong"-what's that mean?

WOMAN  
No, you didn't.

DONNA  
I'm sorry. What?

WOMAN  
You didn't get my note last night. You got it a few seconds ago. Having decided to come, you suddenly found yourself arriving. That is how time progresses here, in the manner of a dream. You've suspected that before, haven't you, Donna Noble?  
It was a disconcerting thought. They were all of them used to time passing in a linear, slow progression, and of it fleeing before their eyes when they travelled in the TARDIS, but the idea of being simply unable to grasp or control it was a horrifying one.   
DONNA  
How do you know me?

WOMAN  
We met before. In The Library. You were kind to me. I hope now to return that kindness.  
‘I knew I recognised the voice!’ Amy said triumphantly. ‘It’s Miss Evangelista.’  
DONNA  
Your voice...I recognize it.

WOMAN  
Yes, you do. I am what is left of Miss Evangelista.

INT. LIBRARY, CORRIDOR

The group is running along a raised connecting corridor between two buildings.

DOCTOR  
Professor, go ahead. Fine a safe spot.

RIVER  
It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit! You can't reason with it.

DOCTOR  
Five minutes!   
‘Told you.’ Rose said. She was proud of him, though – proud that the Doctor would risk himself to give these creatures a chance, aggressive as they would seem. He believed the potential for good, or at least, neutrality, was in everyone. It was something humans sometimes lacked.   
RIVER  
Other Dave, stay with him. Pull him out when he's too stupid to live. Two minutes, Doctor!

RIVER, ANITA and LUX leave. "PROPER DAVE" arrives.

PROPER DAVE  
Hey, who turned out the lights?

DOCTOR  
(runs up to it) You hear that? Those words? That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit, before you climbed inside and stripped his flesh. That's a man's soul trapped inside a neural relay, going round and round forever. Now if you don't have the decency to let him go, how 'bout this? Use him, talk to me. It's easy, neural relay. Just point and think. Use him, talk to me.

PROPER DAVE  
(advances) Hey, who turned out the lights?

DOCTOR  
The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?

OTHER DAVE  
We should go. Doctor!

DOCTOR  
(to OTHER DAVE) In a minute! (to "PROPER DAVE") You came to The Library to hunt. Why? Just tell me why?

PROPER DAVE/VASHTA NERADA  
(stops) We...did not...

DOCTOR  
Oh, hello.

PROPER DAVE/VASHTA NERADA  
We did not--

DOCTOR  
Take it easy. You'll get the hang of it.  
‘Yeah, it’s not like it takes humans a couple of years to master language.’ Rose said grumpily.   
PROPER DAVE/VASHTA NERADA  
We...did not...come here.

DOCTOR  
Of course you did. 'Course you came here.  
‘Jumping to conclusions, Doctor.’ Clara sighed. ‘I thought you’d know better by now.’   
PROPER DAVE/VASHTA NERADA  
We come from here.

DOCTOR  
From here?

PROPER DAVE/VASHTA NERADA  
We hatched here.

DOCTOR  
But you hatched from trees-from spores in trees.

PROPER DAVE/VASHTA NERADA  
These are our forests.

DOCTOR  
You're nowhere near a forest. Look around you.

PROPER DAVE/VASHTA NERADA  
These are our forests!

DOCTOR  
You're not in a forest. You're in a library. There are no trees in a...library.  
‘Of course, spaceman.’ Donna said. ‘Books are made from trees. We learn that when we’re four. Martian education is rubbish.’   
OTHER DAVE  
We should go. Doctor!

DOCTOR  
Books. You came in the books. Microspores in a million million books.

OTHER DAVE  
We should go. Doctor!

DOCTOR  
Oh, look at that. (looks out at The Library) The forests of the Vashta Nerada, pulped and printed and bound...a million million books, hatching shadows.

OTHER DAVE  
We should go. Doctor!

DOCTOR  
(turns to OTHER DAVE) Oh...Dave. (walks to him) Oh, Dave, I'm so sorry.  
Another one dead. With such a small group – it was rare for the Doctor to lose so many. Even Clara had fared better when she’d taken over his job that time the TARDIS shrank. And still, the Lux guy was alive. If anyone should be eaten by shadows, it was him.   
No, that wasn’t true. But millions of vashta narada. The Doctor couldn’t fight that. He just had to get them out alive. And that wasn’t working very well.   
The lights in the neural relay are blinking and there's only a skeleton inside the suit. Both advance on the DOCTOR, trapping him.

PROPER DAVE  
Hey, who turned out the lights?

OTHER DAVE  
We should go. Doctor!

DOCTOR  
Thing about me, I'm stupid. I talk too much. Always babbling on. This gob doesn't stop for anything. Want to know the only reason I'm still alive? Always stay near the door.  
‘At least you know what’s up, Doc.’ Graham teased.   
The DOCTOR uses the sonic screwdriver on a trapdoor beneath him and falls through. Both DAVES look down and all they see is the long drop to the ground. The DOCTOR is clinging to a girder beneath the corridor, the sonic in his mouth.

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL is watching on the couch, smiling at the DOCTOR'S escape.   
The companions found themselves grinning too. The greatest mistake anyone could ever make was letting the Doctor talk. Either he talked his way into stopping you – or you found yourself falling in love with him.   
EXT. DAY, PLAYGROUND

DONNA and MISS EVANGELISTA are walking along the edge of the playground.

MISS EVANGELISTA  
I suggested we meet here because a playground's the easiest place to see it-to see the lie.

DONNA  
What lie?

MISS EVANGELISTA  
The children. Look at the children.  
DONNA  
Why do you wear that veil? If I had a face like yours, I wouldn't hide it.

MISS EVANGELISTA  
You remember my face, then. The memories are all still there-The Library, the Doctor, me. You've just been programmed not to look.

DONNA  
Sorry, but...you're dead

There are flashes of MISS EVANGELISTA'S skeleton.

MISS EVANGELISTA  
In a way, we're all dead here, Donna. We are the dead of The Library.

DONNA  
Well, what about the children? The children aren't dead. My children aren't dead.

MISS EVANGELISTA  
Your children were never alive.

DONNA  
Don't you say that. Don't you dare say that about my children!

MISS EVANGELISTA  
Look at your children. Look at all of them-really look. They're not real. Do you see it now? They're all the same. (All the children in the park are the same girl and boy even down to the clothes) All the children of this world-the same boy and the same girl over and over again.

DONNA  
Stop it! Why are you doing this? Why are you wearing that veil?

DONNA pulls off the veil to reveal the once lovely face of MISS EVANGELISTA now distorted and warped. DONNA screams.  
‘Oh, my god!’ Martha pressed a hand to her mouth. ‘That’s- oh, the poor woman! I think I would rather have died for good.’   
INT. LIVING ROOM

On the couch, the GIRL screams and buries her face in a pillow. She peeks at the screen and lets out a sob when she sees MISS EVANGELISTA.  
‘She feels guilty.’ Ten said sadly. ‘She wasn’t able to save her, not perfectly. And she thinks she should be able to. But of course she can’t. No one can save everyone.’   
INT. LIBRARY, YELLOW DOMED READING ROOM

It's night on The Library. RIVER uses her sonic screwdriver to test the shadows.

RIVER  
You know...it's funny, I keep wishing the Doctor was here.

ANITA  
The Doctor is here, isn't he? I mean, he's coming back, right?

RIVER  
You know when you see a photograph of someone you know but it's from years before you met them, and it's like they're not quite...finished, they're-they're not quite done yet? Well...yes, the Doctor's here. He came when I called just like he always does. But not my Doctor. Now, my Doctor... I've seen whole armies turn and run away, and he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor...in the TARDIS-next stop: everywhere.  
‘Quite an accomplishment, to swagger in tweed.’ Amy said. She remembered the second time she’d met the Doctor, when he’d come back – when he’d stood before an army of snowflake-eyeballs, an army of beings willing and ready to burn earth to a crisp without a flicker of remorse – and told them to run, and they had. Despite the bowtie, he’d been impressive. 

DOCTOR  
Spoilers! (joins from other side of the room) Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. Doesn't work like that.

RIVER  
It does for the Doctor.

DOCTOR  
I am the Doctor.

RIVER  
Yeah. Some day.  
‘Get out.’ Rose spat. She stood up, glowering down at River. Martha stood at her shoulder, and she had a hand on her shoulder, almost seeming to be holding her back, not that she could do much.  
‘Rose, leave it.’ John said hastily. ‘It doesn’t matter.’   
‘She has no right to say those things.’ Rose’s voice was trembling. ‘You are the Doctor. You are more the Doctor than this…Eleven will ever be. You can’t just lay down and let her talk to you like that! You deserve better than this woman. Even the Daleks have more respect. You saved the universe! You saved earth countless times. You saved every planet in this universe, I reckon, and who is this- archaeologist to judge? She called you! She couldn’t do it herself. And when you show up, she dares to say-‘ Rose cut herself off, breathing heavily. ‘Get out of this room. If you ever talk to my Doctor again, I will return you to the earth.’   
‘Rose!’ Ten said. ‘Leave it! She was right. I let a lot of her friends die. She was grieving.’   
But Rose shook him off. There was a hint of yellow in her eyes. ‘He’s my Doctor. He’s the Doctor. Anyone who thinks otherwise…’ The accent was dropped from her voice, and it sounded – higher, ethereal. ‘Is long dead.’   
River vanished in a burst of blue, and appeared at the other side of the room.   
Rose collapsed backwards into her husband’s arms. Clara bolted upright.  
‘What the hell was that!’ Her words were echoed by the other Doctors.   
‘Bad Wolf.’ Ten said, dumbfounded. ‘But that- that’s gone! I took it from her.’   
‘Those things leave a trace.’ John said. ‘They can’t ever really leave. When she gets upset…Bad Wolf returns to defend me, still.’ He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.   
‘Of course.’ Ten said. ‘Rose Tyler. How I missed her.’ He stroked a strand of blonde hair from her face. ‘I could always rely on her. She was always so kind – to everything. Even me. She taught me love- ahem.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Sorry.’   
‘It’s nothing.’ John said. ‘She’d have married you, if you’d asked. And you her.’   
‘Yeah.’ But he couldn’t have. Rose deserved an ordinary life with a man who could grow old with her. It had been the hardest thing, to leave her on that beach. The worst.   
‘Will she be okay?’ Eleven said, softly. He came over to examine the woman, placing a hand gently on her cheek, then ran a quick scan with his screwdriver. ‘She should wake up soon. But maybe we ought to take her to her room. Let her lie down properly.’ At a nod, the other two Doctors – well, one Doctor, one metacrisis, but basically still the Doctor – hoisted Rose up, and they carried her into the corridor. The door slid smoothly shut behind them.  
River mussed with her hair a bit and sat back down. ‘I bet you liked her, too.’   
DOCTOR  
(walks to ANITA) How are you doing?

RIVER  
Where's Other Dave?

DOCTOR  
Not coming. Sorry.

ANITA  
Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?

DOCTOR  
I don't know. (sees she still has two shadows) Maybe tinting the visor's making a difference.

ANITA  
It's making a difference all right. No one's ever gonna see my face again.

DOCTOR  
Can I get you anything?

ANITA  
An old age would be nice. Anything you can do.

DOCTOR  
I'm all over it.  
‘I do like her.’ Younger Rose said, sadly. ‘But she got to see things, in her life, I hope. She got to see space. I always admire people who go where others have died. They’re proper brave. They want answers. They want to give the families of the dead closure. That’s one of the most selfless things I can think of.’   
ANITA  
Doctor-When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear and you did. My life so far, I could do with a word like that. What did she say? (chuckles when the DOCTOR doesn't answer) Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me.  
‘Safer with her than with River.’ Clara said scathingly. She would never forgive her for opening the Doctor’s grave. It had worked out in the end, but when the Doctor was on the floor, screaming – she’d never felt such a white-hot hatred for someone.   
DOCTOR  
Safe. Safe. You don't say, "saved". Nobody says, "saved", you say, "safe". The data fragment-what did it say?

LUX  
"4022 people saved. No survivors."

RIVER  
Doctor?

DOCTOR  
Nobody says saved, nutters say saved, you say safe. It didn't mean safe. It literally meant...saved!  
‘Yeah, like, religious types.’ Amy muttered.   
EXT. DAY, PLAYGROUND

DONNA and MISS EVANGELISTA are walking in the park.

DONNA  
What happened to your face?

MISS EVANGELISTA  
Transcription errors. Destroyed my face, did wonders for my intellect. I'm a very poor copy of myself.  
Clara was abruptly reminded of Madame Vastra. She wore a veil because she looked unusual – different – but that didn’t mean she wasn’t able to do what needed to be done. Perhaps it even made it easier.   
INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL watches DONNA and MISS EVANGELISTA on TV.

DONNA  
(on TV) Where are we? Why are the children all the same?

MISS EVANGELISTA  
(on TV) The same pattern over and over saves an awful lot of space.

DONNA  
(on TV) Space?

The GIRL is scared.

MISS EVANGELISTA  
(on TV) Cyberspace.

GIRL  
(jumps off couch and yells at TV) No, don't tell! You mustn't tell!  
Pity swirled in Amy’s chest. This girl – this child – trying so hard to keep things together, to keep everyone safe. She was too young for such responsibility. Amy quite wanted to shoot whoever had left her in that situation.   
INT. LIBRARY, YELLOW DOMED READING ROOM

The DOCTOR is at a terminal.

DOCTOR  
See? There it is! Right there! A hundred years ago, massive power surge, all the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm, the computer tries to teleport everyone out.

RIVER  
It tried to teleport 4022 people?

DOCTOR  
Succeeded. Pulled 'em all out. But then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole library with Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4022 people, all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent-like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?

RIVER  
It saved them.

The DOCTOR runs to a table, pushes books out of the way, and draws on its surface.

DOCTOR  
The Library. Whole world of books. And right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written. Backup copies of every single book. The computer saved 4022 people the only way a computer can. It saved them...to the hard drive.  
Younger Rose pulled a face. ‘Didn’t you say that humans spent a million years as downloads anyways, Doctor?’ She asked. ‘After the machine uprising.’   
EXT. DAY, GAZEBO

MISS EVANGELISTA  
Your physical self is stored in The Library as an energy signature. It can be actualised again whenever you or The Library requires.

DONNA  
The Library? If my face ends up on one of those statues...

MISS EVANGELISTA  
You remember the statues?

DONNA  
Wait, no-Just...Hang on. (puts fingers to temples) So...this isn't the real me? This isn't my real body? But I've been dieting!  
A few giggles at that.   
MISS EVANGELISTA  
What you see around you, this entire world...

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL continues to watch on TV.

MISS EVANGELISTA  
(on TV)...is nothing more than a virtual reality.

EXT. DAY, GAZEBO

DONNA  
So why do you look like that?

MISS EVANGELISTA  
I had no choice. You teleported, you're a perfect reproduction. I was just a data ghost caught in the wi-fi and automatically uploaded.  
‘Of course, a massive library from the future has a Wi-Fi.’ Clara sighed.  
DONNA  
And it made you clever?

MISS EVANGELISTA  
We're only strings of numbers in here. I think a decimal point may have shifted in my IQ but my face has been the bigger advantage. I have the two qualities you require to see absolute truth. I am brilliant...and unloved.

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL is becoming teary-eyed.

EXT. DAY, GAZEBO

DONNA  
If this is all a dream...whose dream is it?

MISS EVANGELISTA  
It's hard to see everything in the data core, even for me, but...there is a word...

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL looks very sad.

EXT. DAY, GAZEBO

MISS EVANGELISTA  
...Just one word..."CAL".   
‘What is CAL?’ Rory asked. ‘It’s – it’s everywhere. And how can it be dreaming?’   
INT. LIVING ROOM

Upset, the GIRL changes the channel.

ELLA  
(on TV) Mummy, my knee!

EXT. DAY, PLAYGROUND

DONNA rushes to ELLA who has fallen.

DONNA  
Oh, look at that knee! Oh, look at that silly old knee. (hugs ELLA)

MISS EVANGELISTA  
She's not real. They're fictions. I'm sorry, but now that you understand that, you won't be able to keep a hold. They are sustained only by your belief.

DONNA  
You don't know! You don't have children!

MISS EVANGELISTA  
Neither do you!

DONNA walks away with the children.

INT. LIVING ROOM

MISS EVANGELISTA  
(on TV) Donna, for your own sake, let them go!

GIRL  
(yells at TV) Stop it! You'll spoil everything! I hate you! You're going to ruin everything! Stop it!

Her FATHER hears her and comes from the kitchen.

FATHER  
Sweetie, what's wrong?

GIRL  
Shut up! (presses button on the remote and her FATHER disappears) Daddy! No, Daddy! (throws down remote)

INT. LIBRARY, YELLOW DOMED READING ROOM

An alarm blares.

LUX  
What is it? What's wrong?

COMPUTER  
Auto-destruct enabled in twenty minutes.  
‘Why does it have an auto-destruct if it’s a little girl in there!’ Amy yelled.  
INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL is lying on the couch, her face tear-stained as she watches the TV.

ELLA  
(on TV) Mummy, what did the lady mean? Are we not real?

JOSHUA  
(on TV) Where are we going?

DONNA  
(on TV) Home.

Sudden cut to-

INT. McAVOY HOME, LIVING ROOM

DONNA, and the children arrive home and everything is bathed in a red light. An alarm is blaring.

JOSHUA  
That was quick, wasn't it, Mummy?

ELLA  
Mummy, what's wrong with the sky?

DONNA looks out the window, horrified.  
‘Oh, dear god.’ Martha whispered.   
INT. LIBRARY, YELLOW DOMED READING ROOM

The DOCTOR and RIVER are at one of the terminals.

RIVER  
What's maximum erasure?

DOCTOR  
Twenty minutes, this planet's gonna crack like an egg.

LUX  
No. No, it's all right. The doctor moon'll stop it. It's designed to protect CAL.

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL is curled up on the floor crying.

MOON  
Now you really must stop this, you know. You've forgotten again. It was you who saved all those people. And then...you remembered.

GIRL  
Shut up, Dr Moon! (uses the remote and DR MOON disappears)  
‘I suppose that answers that question.’ Clara said quietly. ‘He was helpful.’   
INT. LIBRARY, YELLOW DOMED READING ROOM

The terminal shuts down.

DOCTOR  
No, no. No, no, no, no! (climbs up and uses the sonic screwdriver to open the top)

COMPUTER  
All Library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience.

LUX  
We need to stop this. We've gotta save CAL.

DOCTOR  
What is it? What is CAL?

LUX  
We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you.

DOCTOR  
It's at the core of the planet.

RIVER  
Well then... Let's go!

RIVER aims her sonic screwdriver at the seal in the middle of the floor and it opens, showing a blue beam of light.  
RIVER  
Gravity platform.

DOCTOR  
I bet I like you.

RIVER  
Oh, you do.

The four of them step onto the platform and it takes them down to the core.

INT. McAVOY HOME, LIVING ROOM

DONNA is sitting on the couch hugging ELLA and JOSHUA.  
JOSHUA  
Mummy, you're hurting my hand.

DONNA  
You just-you just stay where I can see you. You don't get out of my sight.

ELLA  
Is it bedtime?

Sudden cut to-

INT. McAVOY HOME, CHILDREN'S BEDROOM

DONNA pauses tucking the children into bed. She sits on the side of ELLA'S bed.

DONNA  
Okay... That was lovely, wasn't it? That was a lovely bedtime. We had warm milk, and we watched cartoons, and then Mummy read you a lovely bedtime story.

ELLA  
Mummy, Joshua and me, we're not real, are we?

DONNA  
Of course you're real. You're as real as anything! Why'd you say that?

JOSHUA  
But, Mummy, sometimes, when you're not here, it's like we're not here.

ELLA  
Even when you close your eyes, we just stop.

DONNA  
Well, Mummy promises to never close her eyes again! (When she looks back at the beds, the children are gone) Oh, my God. No, please! (falls to her knees) No, please! No! No, no! No, no! (sobs)  
Amy closed her eyes. She knew all too well how that felt – to lose a child. Even if the ones you held in your hands were not your real child, it hurt. It was a deep aching failure, a grief and a loss and an ache so deep you just – screamed sometimes. Rory helped, of course, he held her as she sobbed, and he told her there is nothing she could have done, nothing anyone could have done. He rubbed her shoulders as she cried so hard she puked, as she blamed herself, even him. The Doctor. It was the Doctor’s fault. It wasn’t.   
He didn’t mean for it to happen. He didn’t ask for an elaborate and convoluted plan to be hatched to take him down. He didn’t mean to make such an impact that people started plotting to remove him from the universal stage. Perhaps it was her fault; she expected so much from him, and he acted crazy. Got too big. And they stole her baby from her.   
The Doctor tried his best. He didn’t die, much as he probably would have liked to. He gave River the same second chance he gave everyone, the chance to be good. She’d squandered it to become a trigger-happy thief, and Amy struggled to think of her as her daughter. Hearing how she was – hearing how she insulted a man she didn’t know at all, how she put their Doctor, bowtie Doctor, on an unattainable level just like Amy had – just how she’d paid the price to do, after the Doctor left her and Rory after that hotel – well, hearing that, Amy wondered if she even could have done a good job parenting River – Melody, if she’d been able to keep her.   
But Rory. Rory would have helped her. Rory would have made Melody perfect. The Doctor graciously called her the Girl Who Waited, but it was Rory that was patient. He was always there. 2000 years, outside a box. She saw that in his eyes, when he thought she wasn’t watching. A life in the Roman Army. The things he’d seen in there still gave him nightmares. He tried to hide it, but he couldn’t quite get over it. She tried to be there for him as he was for her, but she never seemed to do it right. He’d had a family, when he was a Roman, a wife, and a son. She couldn’t have children – she couldn’t make him a father again. She’d wanted him to leave, to find someone who was deserving of him, but that had been giving up. They had to admit it. They were both changed by what they had been through, together and apart. They had to work through that, and there was no shame in it.   
INT. LIBRARY, COMPUTER CORE

COMPUTER  
Auto-destruct in fifteen minutes.

DOCTOR  
(looks up) The data core. Over 4000 living minds trapped inside it.

RIVER  
They won't be living much longer. We're running out of time.

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL is curled up on the floor crying.

GIRL  
Help me. Please, help me. Please! Please, help me.

INT. LIBRARY, COMPUTER CORE

The DOCTOR finds a terminal. They hear the GIRL'S voice.

GIRL  
Help me. Please, help me.

ANITA  
What's that?

RIVER  
Was that a child?

DOCTOR  
The computer's in sleep mode. (taps keyboard) I can't wake it up. I'm trying.

INT. LIVING ROOM

The GIRL lies on the floor, electronic toys whirring around her. A wind blows through sending papers flying. It terrifies her even more.

INT. LIBRARY, COMPUTER CORE

RIVER  
Doctor, these readings.

DOCTOR  
I know. You'd think it was...dreaming.

LUX  
It is dreaming-of a normal life, and a lovely dad, and of every book ever written.

ANITA  
Computers don't dream.

GIRL  
Help me. Please, help me.

LUX  
No, but little girls do. (pulls a lever in a cabinet)  
LUX runs into the next room and the others follow. A node turns around and it has the GIRL'S face.

NODE  
Help me. Please, help me. Help me. Please, help me.

RIVER  
Oh, my God.

ANITA  
It's the little girl. The girl we saw on the computer.

LUX  
She's not in the computer. In a way, she is the computer. The main command node. This is CAL.

DOCTOR  
CAL is a child! A child hooked up to a mainframe! Why didn't you tell me this? I needed to know this!

LUX  
Because she's family! "CAL"-Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time, any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything. And he gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show.

DOCTOR  
So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her.

LUX  
This is only half a life, of course...(strokes her face) ...but it's forever.

DOCTOR  
And then the shadows came.

CAL  
The shadows. I have to...I have to save. Have to save.

DOCTOR  
And she saved them. She saved everyone in The Library. Folded them into her dreams and kept them safe.

ANITA  
Then why didn't she tell us?

DOCTOR  
Because she's forgotten. She's got over 4000 living minds chatting away inside her head. It must be like...being, well, me.  
Rose took in a breath. She knew what that felt like, all too well. To look into the Time Vortex and see all of space and time, laid out before her like the ground rushing past as you fly in an aeroplane. Only she knew everything about every blade of grass, every bug, every person, every building. She knew the history and what would happen. It was too much. And it didn’t stop.   
Having a human brain had helped. It immediately forgot a lot of it, buried some more. But the Doctor didn’t have that defence. He may have more cortexes in his brain than her, but she didn’t know how he remained in the now. If she’d stopped focussing for even a moment while she was the Bad Wolf, she became almost catatonic, her mind gone with the tsunami of everything.   
No wonder he was always running.   
RIVER  
So what do we do?

COMPUTER  
Auto-destruct in ten-

DOCTOR  
Easy! (runs back to terminal) We beam all the people out of the data core, the computer will reset and stop the countdown. Difficult. Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer. (goes to banks of wires) Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer, and she can borrow my memory space!  
It made sense, Clara thought. The Doctor had used the electricity buzzing through his brain to create new copies of himself, over and over, to force his way through the diamond wall in his confession dial. Of course, brain like his, would have almost infinite memory space.   
RIVER  
Difficult. It'll kill you stone dead!

DOCTOR  
(working on wires) Yeah, it's easy to criticize.

RIVER  
It'll burn up both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate!

DOCTOR  
I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing.  
Rose chuckled. ‘It really is.’   
RIVER  
Doctor!

DOCTOR  
If I'm right, this'll work. Shut up! Now, listen, you and Luxy Boy, back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download. And before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention, as you're here, shut up.

RIVER  
Oh! I hate you sometimes! (starts to leave)

DOCTOR  
(at terminal) I know!

RIVER  
Mr Lux, with me. Anita, if he dies...I'll kill him! (leaves)

ANITA  
(to the DOCTOR) What about the Vashta Nerada?

DOCTOR  
These are their forests! I'm gonna seal Charlotte inside her little world, and take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content.

ANITA  
You think they're just gonna let us go?

DOCTOR  
Best offer they're gonna get.

ANITA  
You're gonna make them an offer?

DOCTOR  
And they'd better take it, 'cause right now I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. (stops and looks at her) Because you know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave even when she was crying, and she never gave in. And you ate her. (uses sonic screwdriver and the visor clears to show a skull) But I'm gonna let that pass as long as you let them pass.

ANITA/VASHTA NERADA  
How long have you known?

DOCTOR  
I counted the shadows. You only have one now. (looks at blinking neural relay) She's nearly gone now. Be kind.

ANITA/VASHTA NERADA  
These are our forests. We are not kind.

DOCTOR  
I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them. You are letting them go.

ANITA/VASHTA NERADA  
These are our forests. They are our meat. (shadows extend towards the DOCTOR)

DOCTOR  
Don't play games with me. You just killed someone I liked-that is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up.

The shadows halt while the DOCTOR stares down the skeleton. The shadows retreat.  
It was – odd, when the Doctor did that. Pulled rank, Amy liked to call it. Her Doctor did it a lot – said he was the one that monsters had nightmares about. He was the Doctor. He was a Time Lord. Occasionally on adventures, they’d come across a species old enough to remember the Time War. They counted the hearts and fled.   
She didn’t know how she felt about it. It was a horrible reminder that the Doctor had a history before she became a companion, a long and dangerous one fraught with strife. It was hard too look past the goofiness and the floppy hair, but sometimes the bones peeked through. The anger, born from those years of self-hatred and guilt. All 900 years of space and time. 10 years she’d been with him, and what she’d seen…100 times longer than that… she couldn’t imagine. Of course he had a reputation.   
ANITA/VASHTA NERADA  
You have one day. (the suit collapses)

The DOCTOR turns back to the terminal. RIVER rushes in and kneels by the suit.

RIVER  
Anita!

DOCTOR  
I'm sorry. She's been dead a while now. I told you to go!

RIVER  
Lux can manage without me...but you can't. (gets up and punches him, knocking him unconscious)  
‘We’ve all wanted to do that.’ Amy muttered.   
\--LATER

RIVER is sitting in a special chair connecting wires.

COMPUTER  
Auto-destruct in two minutes.

The DOCTOR comes to lying on the floor handcuffed to a pillar.

DOCTOR  
Oh, no, no, no! What are you doing? That's my job.

RIVER  
What, I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?  
Twelve grinned to himself. He’d come face to face with River’s career on the crashing space-ship over Darillium.   
DOCTOR  
Why am I handcu-Why do you even have handcuffs?

RIVER  
Spoilers.  
Clara shot the Doctor a look, eyebrows raised. He didn’t meet her eyes.   
DOCTOR  
This is not a joke. Stop this now. This is gonna kill you! I'll have a chance, you don't have any!

RIVER  
You wouldn't have a chance and neither do I! I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download.

DOCTOR  
River, please, no!

RIVER  
Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you -the real you, the future you, I mean-you turned up on my doorstep with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. Oh, what a night that was. The towers sang...and you cried.

COMPUTER  
Auto-destruct in one minute.

RIVER  
You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time-my time, time to come to The Library. You even gave me your sonic screwdriver-that should have been a clue.

Both screwdrivers and RIVER'S diary are on the floor, just out of the DOCTOR'S reach.

RIVER  
There's nothing you can do.

DOCTOR  
Let me do this!

RIVER  
If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you.

DOCTOR  
Time can be rewritten!

RIVER  
Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare. It's okay. It's okay, it's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me, time and space. You watch us run.

DOCTOR  
River, you know my name.

COMPUTER  
Auto-destruct in 10...

DOCTOR  
You whispered my name in my ear.

COMPUTER  
...9, 8, 7, 6...

RIVER places a circlet on her head to connect her to the computer.

DOCTOR  
There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name-

COMPUTER  
...5...

DOCTOR  
There's only one time I could...

COMPUTER  
...4...

RIVER  
Hush, now.

COMPUTER  
...3, 2...

RIVER  
Spoilers.

COMPUTER  
...1

RIVER connects the cables and there is a blinding light.  
‘Well, that’s that then.’ Martha said sourly.   
NT. McAVOY HOME, FRONT HALLWAY

DONNA is sitting on the stairs when LEE arrives home.

LEE  
Donna! What's happening?

DONNA  
I don't know, but it's not real. Nothing here is real. The whole world, everything-none of it's real!

A white light surrounds them.

LEE  
Am I real?

DONNA  
Of course, you're real. I know you're real!

The light becomes stronger and they are pulled apart.

DONNA  
Oh, God-Oh, God, I hope you're real.

LEE stutters her name as he is pulled further away.

DONNA  
I'll find you! I promise you, I'll find you!

INT. LIBRARY, RECEPTION

LUX is working at a terminal when he hears a man's voice.

MAN  
Excuse me.

LUX looks up to see a room full of people.

MAN  
What happened? How did we get here?

LUX  
(walks to MAN and cups his face) Look at you. You're back! You're all back! He did it! (laughs and hugs people) You're all back! Look at you!  
‘Maybe he wasn’t so bad.’ Martha said grudgingly. ‘He seems happy they’re alive. That’s something.’   
EXT LIBRARY, BALCONY

LUX runs down to the balustrade and looks out over the busy library.

LUX  
Look at that. Oh, look at that, he did it. 4022 people...safe!  
INT. LIBRARY, COMPUTER CORE

The DOCTOR, still handcuffed, stares heartbroken at RIVER'S off-screen body.

INT. LIBRARY, SHOP

The newly saved people line up to use the teleport.

PA  
Please be patient. Only three can teleport at a time. Do not state your intended destination until you arrive in your designated starliner.

DONNA joins the DOCTOR who is leaning against the wall by the door.

DOCTOR  
Any luck?

DONNA  
Wasn't even anyone called Lee in The Library that day. (stands beside him) Suppose he could have had a different name out here, but let's be honest-he wasn't real, was he?

DOCTOR  
Maybe not.

DONNA  
I made up the perfect man-gorgeous, adores me, and hardly ever speaks a word. What's that say about me?

DOCTOR  
(absently) Everything. (DONNA looks at him offended) Sorry, did I say "everything"? I meant to say "nothing". I was aiming for "nothing". I accidentally said "everything".

PA  
Stand right in the middle of the teleport, please.

DONNA  
What about you? You all right?

DOCTOR  
I'm always all right.

DONNA  
Is "all right" special Time Lord code for..."really not all right at all"?

DOCTOR  
Why?

DONNA  
'Cause I'm all right too.

They look at each other, understanding perfectly without words.

DOCTOR  
Come on. (takes her hand and they head out)

"LEE" stands on the teleport and sees DONNA from the back. His stammer prevents him calling her name. He is teleported away.  
‘No!’ Amy cried out. A kind of visceral pain took her. She imagined- if Rory- she never saw Rory again. Well, she didn’t have to imagine. But still-  
EXT LIBRARY, BALCONY

The DOCTOR leaves RIVER'S diary on the balustrade and rests his hand on it.

DONNA  
Your friend...Professor Song. She knew you in the future but she didn't know me. What happens to me? Because, when she heard my name, the way she looked at me-

DOCTOR  
Donna...this is her diary. My future. I could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?

DONNA  
Spoilers...right?

DOCTOR  
Right. (lays RIVER'S sonic screwdriver on top) Come on. (walks away) The next chapter's this way.

RIVER  
(v.o.) When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of the all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever, for one moment, accepts it.

The DOCTOR runs back and picks up RIVER'S sonic screwdriver.

DOCTOR  
Why? Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that? Thing is, Future Me had years to think about it, all those years to think of a way to save her. What he did was give her a sonic screwdriver-why would I do that? (slips open a panel to reveal a neural relay) Oh, oh, oh... Look at that! I'm very good!

DONNA  
What have you done?

DOCTOR  
(shows DONNA the relay) Saved her. (runs off)

INT. LIBRARY

The DOCTOR runs back through The Library to get to the core.

DOCTOR  
Stay with me! You can do it! Stay with me, come on! (leaps over cart) You and me, one last run!

INT. LIBRARY, YELLOW DOMED READING ROOM

DOCTOR  
Sorry, River. Shortcut.

The DOCTOR disables the gravity platform with the sonic screwdriver.

COMPUTER  
Platform disabled.

The DOCTOR dives into the hole.

INT. LIBRARY, COMPUTER CORE

RIVER  
(v.o.) Everybody knows that everybody dies...

The DOCTOR arrives at the terminal.

RIVER  
(v.o.) But not every day.

The DOCTOR inserts the screwdriver and uploads RIVER into the data core.

RIVER  
(v.o.) Not today.

The node of Charlotte smiles at him and the DOCTOR smiles back.

EXT. DAY, "HOSPITAL" GROUNDS

RIVER is wearing a loose white gown and her hair is unbound. She looks down at herself, confused. CHARLOTTE and DR MOON walk up to her.

CHARLOTTE  
It's okay. You're safe. You'll always be safe here. The Doctor fixed the data core. This is a good place now. But I was worried you might be lonely so I brought you some friends. Aren't I a clever girl?  
‘Clever boy.’ Clara murmured. 

MISS EVANGELISTA  
Aren't we all?

RIVER turns to see MISS EVANGELISTA, PROPER DAVE, OTHER DAVE and ANITA walking towards her.

RIVER  
Oh, for Heaven's sake, he just can't do it, can he? That man, that impossible man. He just can't give in! (she hugs them all)(v.o.) Some days are special.

Some days are so, so blessed.

INT. LIBRARY, RECEPTION

The DOCTOR strides into reception and stops in front of the TARDIS.

RIVER  
(v.o.) Some days, nobody dies at all.

The DOCTOR snaps his fingers and the TARDIS doors open. He smiles and joins DONNA inside.  
Clara was grinning, almost uncontrollably. ‘She was right, Doctor! You did it- that is so cool-‘

RIVER  
(v.o.) Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call...

The DOCTOR snaps his fingers and the TARDIS doors close.

INT. CHILDREN'S BEDROOM

RIVER closes her diary.

RIVER  
...Everybody lives. (leans over and kisses CHARLOTTE goodnight before looking over at two other children-ELLA and JOSHUA. She walks to the doorway and takes a last look, before turning out the light.   
Clara thought about that speech. It was true – when the Doctor came to call, people had a much higher chance of surviving. She wished the Doctor believed that – and she was starting to suspect that River had something to do with him not believing that. If she hadn’t met River as a non-corporeal ghost, she’d have knocked her teeth out.   
Everybody knows that everybody dies, and no one knows it like the Doctor.  
He’d seen it. He’d seen so many people die on him – his entire planet, gone in a moment, ten billion Time Lords blowing away, like smoke. If even they could die – why take humans with him? They were fragile. They hurt him, over and over. And yet he remained the optimist. He gave them chance after chance – especially her.  
She had been lucky to meet the Doctor. They all had. She was lucky to have him – and in quite a few instances, he was lucky to have her.


	5. Boom Town

Boom Town  
A few minutes after the episode came to a close, Rose wandered back in, looking somewhat more bedraggled and her hair all over the place. Eleven made his way over to Rory and Amy, and sat next to them.  
‘She’s gone, I’m sorry.’ Amy said, lowly. ‘I think it’s best she doesn’t come back.’  
‘But she’s your daughter!’ Eleven said. ‘You don’t seem upset.’  
Amy let her eyes drift to Rose. ‘Bad Wolf, huh? Adoring. I bet you liked her.’  
Eleven grinned sheepishly, cheeks flushing, and fiddled with his bowtie. ‘I did, yeah. She was there for me when I came out of the war. I was so- so full of hatred, then, for the Daleks, for myself. She made me believe I could be the Doctor again.’  
‘You’re always the Doctor.’ Amy said encouragingly, and Rory echoed the sentiment. But Eleven simply frowned.  
‘Not to River.’  
[Lord Mayor's office]  
(Six months later, in a large executive office suite.)  
CLEAVER: I've checked the figures. I've checked them again and again. Always the same result. The design is not safe. It could result in the death of millions. I beg of you, stop the project right now, before it's too late.  
MARGARET: Well, goodness me. Obviously, Mister Cleaver, you're the expert.  
‘She sounds like she means it. I had a maths teacher just like her once.’ Rory said. ‘She was always so smug because she knew more than you. If you have to power trip over twelve year olds.’  
‘Miss Antrigg, right?’ Amy covered her face. ‘She had nose hairs. That’s about all I remember – and her voice. It was like a banshee.’  
CLEAVER: Then you'll stop it?  
MARGARET: It seems I have no choice. (gurgle) Oh, do excuse me. Civic duties leave little time for a sandwich.  
CLEAVER: But you promise you'll stop it, today?  
MARGARET: Well, of course. Nothing is more important than human life. What do you take me for, some sort of maniac?  
‘Maybe, yes!’ Clara said. ‘Duh!’  
‘It’s a yes from me.’ Rory agreed.  
CLEAVER: Why, no.  
MARGARET: Am I right in thinking you've shown your results only to me?  
CLEAVER: Just to you. No one else.  
MARGARET: Wise move.  
‘No!’ Amy practically shouted. ‘Not a wise, or sane, move, at all! Doesn’t she know about witnesses?’  
‘She should hang it from the sky in a plane, ‘say no to the massively dangerous plan of the mayor if you want to not explode!’ Clara chimed in.  
(Cleaver turns away and wipes his brow.)  
CLEAVER: I can't tell you, Mrs Blaine. This is such a weight off my mind. I've barely slept. I couldn't believe my own readings. The scale of it. Destruction like the British Isles has never seen before. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think that someone wanted this project to go wrong. As though they intended to wipe this city off the map. Thank goodness we've got you, our esteemed leader.  
(He turns and screams. Margaret has got out of her body suit.)  
Donna gave a flat smile. ‘Don’t turn your back to the possible alien you numpty.’  
OPENING CREDITS  
BOOM TOWN  
[Roald Dahl Plass]  
(Mickey arrives at Cardiff Central railway station and heads to the redeveloped Oval Basin. The Tardis is in front of the huge water tower, a very avante garde slab with water pouring down it. Mickey knocks on the door. Jack answers it.)  
JACK: Who the hell are you?  
MICKEY: What do you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?  
JACK: Captain Jack Harkness. Whatever your selling, we're not buying.  
MICKEY: Get out of my way!  
‘I didn’t notice.’ Ten almost crowed. ‘You’re the only person Jack didn’t flirt with, Ricky. Count yourself lucky.’ He shook his head. At least Jack kind of respected that Rose had a boyfriend – had sort of had a boyfriend – while gallivanting off around the universe with his ninth self.  
[Tardis]  
JACK: Don't tell me. This must be Mickey.  
DOCTOR: Here comes trouble! How're you doing, Ricky boy?  
MICKEY: It's Mickey!  
ROSE: Don't listen to him, he's winding you up.  
MICKEY: You look fantastic.  
(Rose and Mickey hug. The Doctor is up a ladder mending something.)  
JACK: Aw, sweet, look at these two. How come I never get any of that?  
DOCTOR: Buy me a drink first.  
JACK: You're such hard work.  
Amy and Clara grinned at that. Clearly Rose and Mickey were an item, judging by the way they held each other – and Amy knew what it felt like to come back to a boyfriend after being away in the TARDIS. Clara knew how casually unobservant the Doctor could be.  
DOCTOR: But worth it.  
‘And modest, too!’ Clara said pointedly.  
ROSE: Did you manage to find it?  
MICKEY: There you go.  
(Mickey hands over Rose's passport.)  
ROSE: I can go anywhere now.  
‘You could before.’ Nine said. ‘If you didn’t wander off wherever I put you, I could use the psychic paper to get us anywhere. But no. Humans cannot be still for more than six seconds.’  
‘Hey!’ The humans protested. ‘We’re sat here watching your life story-‘ Amy and Rory reminded Eleven of something to do with cubes.  
‘This is not my life story.’ Ten said. ‘This is a few cherrypicked parts of my life. My life is too long to be watched if we sat here for years.’  
DOCTOR: I told you, you don't need a passport.  
ROSE: It's all very well going to Platform One and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of San Kaloon, but what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it. You see, I'm prepared for anything.  
MICKEY: Sounds like you’re staying, then. So, what're you doing in Cardiff? And who the hell's Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with big-ears up there  
DOCTOR: Oi!  
MICKEY: Look in the mirror. But this guy, I don't know, he's kind of  
JACK: Handsome?  
MICKEY: More like cheesy.  
Martha felt distinctly embarrassed at that. She- like so, so many others- had allowed herself to be charmed with Captain Jack, which was fine in itself, but she’d done so while resenting the Doctor for not returning her feelings, preoccupied as he was with Rose.  
She had Mickey now. Watching this – she got the irony. She’d lost the Doctor to Rose, and Mickey had lost Rose to the Doctor. He had travelled with the Doctor, and chosen to leave. He understood how that felt, how it felt like tearing a huge chunk out of yourself. He understood her like no one else could.  
JACK: Early twenty first Century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?  
MICKEY: It's bad.  
JACK: But bad means good, isn't that right?  
DOCTOR: Are you saying I'm not handsome?  
‘No one’s saying that, Doctor.’ Amy said, and patted his arm.  
ROSE: We just stopped off. We need to refuel. The thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city. It's invisible, but it's like an earthquake fault between different dimensions.  
DOCTOR: The rift was healed back in 1869.  
ROSE: Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, because these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it.  
JACK: But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the human race  
DOCTOR: But perfect for the Tardis, so just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and  
JACK: Open up the engines, soak up the radiation.  
ROSE: Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!  
JACK: Into time!  
DOCTOR + ROSE + JACK: And space!  
MICKEY: My God, have you seen yourselves? You all think you're so clever, don't you?  
DOCTOR: Yeah.  
ROSE: Yeah.  
JACK: Yep!  
Rose had the decency to look embarrassed by the whole affair. It was unfair of her to leave Mickey out, and separate him from their little group, but she hadn’t meant to. She just hadn’t thought.  
Mickey and Martha looked at each other and broke into a perfect, mocking rendition of “love is an open door” from Frozen. The TV froze while they did so.  
[Roald Dahl Plass]  
DOCTOR: Should take another twenty four hours, which means we've got time to kill.  
MICKEY: That old lady's staring.  
‘Old ladies are always judging you for something.’ Amy grumbled.  
‘Probably because you’re doing something judge-worthy!’ Eleven hissed back. She smacked him in the shoulder.  
JACK: Probably wondering what four people could do inside a small wooden box.  
MICKEY: What are you captain of, the Innuendo Squad?  
(Jack makes a gesture and starts to walk away.)  
MICKEY: Wait, the Tardis, we can't just leave it. Doesn't it get noticed?  
‘Yeah, luckily, it does.’ Clara said. ‘Makes it much easier to find him when he goes AWOL.’  
JACK: Yeah, what's with the police box? Why does it look like that?  
ROSE: It's a cloaking device.  
DOCTOR: It's called a chameleon circuit. The Tardis is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue on a plinth or something. But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck.  
‘And here I thought you just liked the colour.’ Donna said. ‘Nice to know I’ve been flying in a machine that doesn’t know how to calibrate to it’s surroundings. Perfect ship for this dumbo – he doesn’t exactly blend in, either.’  
Amy poked Eleven’s bowtie.  
‘You should have seen some of his earlier faces.’ Clara said. ‘I’m sure there are logs on the TARDIS somewhere – along with the pictures of companions we definitely did not say you could take.’ She poked her Eleven’s bowtie, too.  
‘It’s to remember you by!’  
‘What, big brain like that, as you so love to tell us – and you forget things…’ But she trailed off. The man who forgets. ‘You wouldn’t dare forget me.’  
MICKEY: So it copied a real thing? There actually was police boxes?  
DOCTOR: Yeah, on street corners. Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside till help came, like a little prison cell.  
JACK: Why don't you just fix the circuit?  
DOCTOR: I like it, don't you?  
ROSE: I love it.  
‘You’re in an independent man.’ Amy said. ‘Wait, check with Rose before you answer me.’  
MICKEY: But that's what I meant. There's no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?  
DOCTOR: Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it. Now, stop your nagging. Let's go and explore.  
Clara remembered the Cybermen. She remembered the people taking pictures whenever they put a horse and carriage out in the streets – the crowd around every anachronism. Probably the TARDIS liked the attention.  
ROSE: What's the plan?  
DOCTOR: I don't know. Cardiff, early twenty first century and the wind's coming from the east. Trust me. Safest place in the universe.  
‘You jinxed it.’ Rose said gloomily. ‘You always seem to sniff out trouble. And a good thing, too, else earth would be kaput.’  
‘Doctor, you don’t know what safe looks like. But I suppose it would be boring if you didn’t. And I wouldn’t have such good legs.’  
[City hall]  
(Mayor Margaret Blaine is making an announcement, with the scale model of the power station centre stage. The banner above her reads - The Blaidd Drwg Project.)  
MARGARET: This nuclear power station right in the heart of Cardiff city will bring jobs for all. As you can see, as Lord Mayor, I've had to sanction some radical redevelopments. No photographs! What did I say? Take pictures of the project by all means, but not me, thank you. So, Cardiff Castle will be demolished allowing the Blaidd Drwg Project to rise up, tall and proud. A monument to Welsh industry. And yes, some of you might shiver. The words nuclear power station and major population centre aren't exactly the happiest of bedfellows. But I give you my personal guarantee that as long as I walk upon this Earth, no harm will come to any of my citizens. Now, drink up. A toast. To the future!  
‘And when you leave earth.’ Rose glowered. ‘Cow.’  
ALL: To the future!  
MARGARET: And believe me it will glow.  
‘Because it’s- because it’s radioactive-‘ Mickey said.  
‘Yup, we all got that.’ Martha said. Clara was grinning to herself.  
CATHY: Excuse me, Mrs Blaine? My name's Cathy Salt, I represent the Cardiff Gazette.  
MARGARET: I'm sorry, I'm not doing interviews. I can't bear self publicity.  
‘She didn’t want me to find her.’ Nine said proudly. ‘Running scared.’  
‘Her running scared almost liquified my planet!’  
CATHY: But are you aware of the curse?  
MARGARET: Whatever do you mean? Cathy, wasn't it?  
CATHY: Cathy Salt. That's what some of your engineers are saying, that the Blaidd Drwg Project is cursed.  
MARGARET: Sounds rather silly to me.  
CATHY: That's what I thought. I was just chasing a bit of local colour. But the funny thing is, when you start piecing it all together, it does begin to look a bit odd.  
MARGARET: In what way?  
CATHY: The deaths, The number of deaths associated with this project. First of all, there was the entire team of the European Safety Inspectors.  
MARGARET: But they were French! Its not my fault if Danger Explosives was only written in Welsh.  
CATHY: And then there was that accident with the Cardiff Heritage Committee.  
MARGARET: The electrocution of that swimming pool was put down to natural wear and tear.  
CATHY: And then the architect?  
MARGARET: It was raining, visibility was low. my car simply couldn't stop.  
CATHY: And then just recently, Mister Cleaver, the government's nuclear adviser.  
MARGARET: Slipped on an icy patch.  
CATHY: He was decapitated.  
MARGARET: It was a very icy patch. I'm afraid these stories are nothing more than typical small town thinking. I really haven't got time. If you'll excuse me.  
Clara giggled. ‘Sorry, not funny.’ But she carried on laughing.  
CATHY: Except, before he died, Mister Cleaver posted some of his findings online.  
MARGARET: Did he now?  
CATHY: If you know where to look. He was concerned about the reactor.  
MARGARET: Oh, all that technical stuff!  
CATHY: Specifically, that the design of the suppression pool would cause the hydrogen recombiners to fail, precipitating in the collapse in the containment isolation system and resulting in a meltdown.  
MARGARET: Who's been doing her homework?  
CATHY: That's my job.  
MARGARET: I think, Cathy Salt, I think you and I should have a word in private.  
‘Oh, don’t go with her.’ Clara said. She didn’t sound hopeful.  
[Corridor]  
MARGARET: Oh! My little tum is complaining. I think we might have to make a detour to the ladies.  
CATHY: I'll wait here.  
MARGARET: Oh, come on. All girls together.  
‘Why is that?’ Mickey asked, dumbfounded. ‘You always travel in packs. It’s bizarre.’  
‘To avoid being attacked by a slitheen, duh.’  
[Ladies washroom]  
MARGARET: So, you were saying. These outlandish theories of yours?  
(Margaret dashes into a cubicle. There are squelchy sounds.)  
CATHY: Sounds like we got here just in time.  
‘Oh, so gross.’ Amy said. ‘Of all the aliens, I could not stand to be one of- them.’  
‘That’s racist.’ Nine said.  
MARGARET: Continue.  
CATHY: Well, I don't know much about nuclear physics, but from what I could make out, Cleaver was saying that the whole project could go up worse than Chernobyl.  
(Margaret unzips her forehead. Cathy notices the light under the door.)  
CATHY: Is there something wrong with the lights?  
MARGARET: Oh, they're always on the blink. I can't tell you how many memos I've sent. So, Chernobyl.  
CATHY: Apparently, but a thousand times worse. I know it sounds absurd, there must be so many safety regulations. But Cleaver seemed to be talking about a nuclear holocaust. He almost made it sound deliberate. I mean, we're hardly the Sunday Times, we're only the Cardiff Gazette, but we still have a duty to report the facts.  
‘That can’t be right.’ Amy said. ‘There’s no way one nuclear power station can wipe out humanity. Wipe out earth, whatever.’  
‘Maybe an alien one could.’ Clara said unhappily. ‘Maybe we ought to bomb the living daylights out of Raxacoricofallapatorius. Just…yeah, perhaps not.’  
‘How come you can say it without even trying?’ Rose complained.  
‘I’m a lot older than you.’  
MARGARET: And you're going to print this information?  
CATHY: Are you all right? You sound a bit.  
MARGARET: Sore throat. Ahem, ahem. Just a little tickle. But tell me, do you intend to make this information public?  
CATHY: I have to.  
Amy was struck with a sudden and horrible thought. The Slitheen, in a way, reminded her of the Doctor in that moment – evil, of course, unlike the Doctor – but she got the sense this…Margaret didn’t want to kill the lady. She was asking questions in the same way the Doctor asked someone to stop before he stopped them forcefully – giving them the chance to fall upon his mercy.  
That didn’t sit right…at all.  
MARGARET: So be it.  
CATHY: Mind you, my boyfriend thinks I'm mad. We're getting married next month, and he says if I cause a fuss, I could lose my job just when we need the money.  
MARGARET: Boyfriend?  
CATHY: Jeffery. Civil Servant. He's nothing exciting, but he's mine.  
Amy smiled a little to herself. Rory. The Last Centurion. Very exciting. But even if he wasn’t – well, he was hers, and that was what mattered.  
MARGARET: When's the wedding?  
CATHY: The nineteenth. It's really just to stop my mother from nagging, but the baby sort of clinched it, I suppose.  
MARGARET: You're with child?  
Of course, that stopped her. Amy was reminded again of the Doctor – of the way he was with children. She’d asked the Doctor, once, if he had children himself, a family, but he evaded the question in a way that sent a very clear message. Yes.  
(Margaret sits on the toilet.)  
CATHY: Three months. It's not showing yet. Wasn't planned, it was an accident. Nice accident, though.  
MARGARET: Congratulations.  
CATHY: Thank you. How about you? You got any kids?  
MARGARET: No.  
CATHY: Is there a Mister Blaine?  
MARGARET: Not anymore. I'm all on my own. I had quite a sizeable family, once upon a time. Wonderful brothers. Oh, they were bold. But all of them gone now. Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm cursed.  
Are there other Time Lords?  
Not anymore. I’m all on my own. There were a lot of them, once upon a time. Wonderful people. Oh, they were brilliant. But all of them gone now. Maybe you’re right.  
Maybe I’m cursed.  
Amy shot Eleven a look. He was very still. Unblinking, as if he faced down an angel.  
CATHY: No, no, I don't think so. Not really.  
MARGARET: You're very kind. If you don't mind, I might be a while. You run along. Perhaps we could do this another day.  
CATHY: Are you all right?  
MARGARET: Fine!  
CATHY: Okay, I'll tell you what. I'll leave my details with your office. Thanks for talking.  
MARGARET: Thank you.  
(Cathy leaves the sad Slitheen still in the cubicle.)  
Yaz was surprised to find that she pitied this slitheen. She looked so crestfallen. Yaz had a tough time with her family, found them all to be a bit demanding, but if she had to live without them…she didn’t know what she’d do. What would be the point them? She could feel the phantom emptiness. Grief at the mere thought. Perhaps she took things for granted rather too much.  
Lost them a long time ago.  
[Restaurant]  
(On a small jetty.)  
JACK: I swear, six feet tall and with big tusks  
DOCTOR: You're lying through your teeth!  
ROSE: I'd have gone bonkers! That's the word - bonkers!  
JACK: I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks! And it's woken, and it's not happy.  
DOCTOR: How could you not know it was there?  
JACK: And we're standing there, fifteen of us, naked-  
ROSE: Naked?!  
JACK: And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me. And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my God, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say-  
MICKEY: I knew we should've turned left!  
JACK: That's my line!  
ROSE: I don't believe you. I don't believe a word you say ever. That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?  
(The Doctor snatches a newspaper from the man at the next table and reads it.)  
JACK: No, I just picked him up went right for the ship, full throttle. Didn't stop until I hit the spacelanes. I was shaking. It was unbelievable. It freaked me out, and by the time I got fifteen light years away I realised I'm like this.  
DOCTOR: And I was having such a nice day.  
(The Doctor holds up the front page of the Western Mail, with the picture the photographer took of Margaret.)  
‘Busted!’ Graham said.  
[City hall foyer]  
JACK: According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty seven fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face. That'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two. Rose, you Exit Three. Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?  
DOCTOR: Excuse me. Who's in charge?  
JACK: Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir.  
Clara frowned slightly. Her Doctor had absolutely blown up when Danny had called him “sir” or referred to him as a soldier. But Clara supposed this was close to the war, or the end of it that they’d seen in the Dalek episode. Whatever he’d suffered as a soldier obviously hadn’t truly settled in yet.  
JACK: Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir.  
DOCTOR: Right, here's the plan. (pause) Like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?  
JACK: Present arms.  
(They each pull out a mobile phone)  
DOCTOR: Ready.  
ROSE: Ready.  
MICKEY: Ready.  
JACK: Ready. Speed dial?  
DOCTOR: Yup.  
ROSE: Ready.  
MICKEY: Check.  
JACK: See you in hell.  
[Outside the Mayor's office]  
(The Doctor speaks to the young man sitting at a desk by the door.)  
DOCTOR: Hello, I've come to see the Lord Mayor.  
IDRIS: Have you got an appointment?  
DOCTOR: No, just an old friend passing by. Bit of a surprise. Can't wait to see her face.  
IDRIS: Well, she's just having a cup of tea.  
DOCTOR: Just go in there and tell her the Doctor would like to see her.  
IDRIS: Doctor who?  
‘Oh, don’t start.’ Clara groaned. Eleven was grinning. He did whenever anyone asked him the question – he knew most people would die not knowing.  
DOCTOR: Just the Doctor. Tell her exactly that. The Doctor.  
IDRIS: Hang on a tick.  
(Idris goes into the Lord Mayor's office. A tea cup smashes on the floor. Idris comes out again.)  
Amy burst out laughing at that. ‘Right, that’s what I want people to do when they hear me coming from now on. Pond? Amy Pond? And they just- drop everything and kneel before me. Wait, what does that say about me?’  
‘Everything.’ Rory said. ‘Nothing! It says nothing.’  
IDRIS: The Lord Mayor says thank you for popping by. She'd love to have a chat, but, er, she's up to her eyes in paperwork. Perhaps if you could make an appointment for next week?  
DOCTOR: She's climbing out of the window, isn't she?  
IDRIS: Yes, she is.  
They were all laughing at that.  
[Lord Mayor's office balcony]  
DOCTOR: Slitheen heading north.  
[City hall]  
ROSE: On my way.  
JACK: Over and out.  
MICKEY: Oh my God.  
[Lord Mayor's office balcony]  
(Idris wrestles with the Doctor as Margaret climbs down a ladder.)  
IDRIS: Leave the Mayor alone!  
(Meanwhile, Rose runs into a clerk carrying a pile of papers, and Jack leaps over a tea trolley. Mickey crashes into a cleaning woman.)  
‘Graceful as a kitten on catnip.’ Martha said fondly.  
[City hall car park]  
(Margaret reaches the bottom of the ladder and takes off her brooch. She starts to run but sees Rose coming towards her, snarls and removes her right earring. Then Jack comes running from the opposite direction. The Doctor finishes with Idris and sees her running in the only available direction - across the front of the building.)  
DOCTOR: Margaret!  
(The Doctor gets down the ladder as Margaret removes her other earring and puts it with the first and the brooch. The chase is on.)  
JACK: Who's on Exit Four??  
ROSE: That was Mickey!  
MICKEY: Here I am.  
DOCTOR: Mickey the idiot.  
ROSE: Oh, be fair. she's not exactly going to outrun us, is she?  
(Margaret vanishes.)  
JACK: She's got a teleport! That's cheating! Now we're never going to get her.  
ROSE: Oh, the Doctor's very good at teleports.  
(The Doctor holds up his sonic screwdriver and Margaret reappears, running towards them. Vanish, reappear. Vanish, reappear.)  
DOCTOR: I could do this all day.  
MARGARET: This is persecution. Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?  
DOCTOR: You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet.  
MARGARET: Apart from that.  
‘She should not be this funny! She’s a planet-killing maniac!’  
[City hall]  
DOCTOR: So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed but you teleport out just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station. But what for?  
MARGARET: A philanthropic gesture. I've learnt the error of my ways  
‘If only people did that.’ Ten said miserably.  
‘You did.’ Rose pointed out. ‘In both extremes. You went from “everything has it’s time and everything dies” to “time lord victorious” and the found a happy medium. You’re always changing, and mostly for the better.’  
DOCTOR: And it just so happens to be right on top of the rift.  
MARGARET: What rift would that be?  
JACK: A rift in space and time. If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go (suck boom)!  
‘Well, that certainly- streamlines the process of my planet being turned back into space-dust.’ Rory said sourly.  
‘I’m not totally against Leadworth being sucked into a black hole’ Amy said thoughtfully.  
DOCTOR: This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity.  
ROSE: Didn't anyone notice? Isn't there someone in London checking this sort of stuff?  
MARGARET: We're in Cardiff. London doesn't care. The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice. Oh. I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native.  
‘And we’re very nice natives!’ Yaz said. ‘She should have showed herself to some conspiracy nuts. Alien in a human skin suit? They’d definitely think Mark Zuckerberg was a slitheen. Er… he isn’t, is?’  
‘Nah.’ Thirteen said. ‘Maybe. Yes? Who knows.’  
‘You know!’ Ryan protested, but 13 tapped her nose mysteriously and winked at them.  
MICKEY: But why would she do that? A great big explosion, she'd only end up killing herself.  
‘Maybe this is some stupid revenge suicide.’ Clara suggested. ‘Like that Baker girl.’  
MARGARET: She's got a name, you know.  
MICKEY: She's not even a she, she's a thing.  
‘Now, that’s racist.’ Missy said.  
DOCTOR: Oh, but she's clever.  
(The Doctor pulls the middle section out of the model and turns it over to reveal electronics.)  
DOCTOR: Fantastic.  
JACK: Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?  
DOCTOR: Couldn't have put it better myself.  
‘No, you couldn’t of.’ Donna sighed.  
JACK: Oo, genius! You didn't build this?  
MARGARET: I have my hobbies. A little tinkering.  
JACK: No, no, no. I mean, you really didn't build this. Way beyond you.  
MICKEY: I bet she stole it.  
MARGARET: It fell into my hands.  
‘River says that.’ Eleven said. ‘It definitely means stole.’  
ROSE: Is it a weapon?  
JACK: It's transport. You see, if the reactor blows, the rift opens. Phenomenal cosmic disaster. But this thing shrouds you in a forcefield. You have this energy bubble, so you're safe. Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system.  
MICKEY: It's a surfboard.  
JACK: A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah.  
MARGARET: And it would've worked. Id have surfed away from this dead end dump and back to civilisation.  
MICKEY: You'd blow up a whole planet just to get a lift?  
MARGARET: Like stepping on an anthill.  
‘I’ll pour ant poison your ugly head-‘ Clara spluttered.  
DOCTOR: How'd you think of the name?  
MARGARET: What, Blaidd Drwg? It's Welsh.  
DOCTOR: I know, but how did you think of it?  
MARGARET: I chose it at random, that's all. I don't know. It just sounded good. Does it matter?  
DOCTOR: Blaidd Drwg.  
ROSE: What's it mean?  
DOCTOR: Bad Wolf.  
ROSE: But I've heard that before. Bad Wolf. I've heard that lots of times.  
DOCTOR: Everywhere we go. Two words following us. Bad Wolf.  
ROSE: How can they be following us?  
Amy opened her mouth, and shut it again, not sure how to phrase the question. If Rose was Bad Wolf, no wonder it was following them. But how had that happened? When did Rose gain the ability to leave messages throughout time?  
Clara remembered that day. The Great Intelligence had grabbed the Doctor and tried to fling him into the rift. She stopped it, how exactly, being wiped away by the massive energy surging from the rift, but at a cost. She’d been struck by lightning moments after she defeated the Intelligence, carried away by paramedics. It had killed her.  
(There is a nasty pause as they consider it.)  
DOCTOR: Nah, just a coincidence. Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind. Things to do. Margaret, we're going to take you home.  
JACK: Hold on, isn't that the easy option, like letting her go?  
ROSE: I don't believe it! We actually get to go to Raxa. Wait a minute! Raxacor  
DOCTOR: Raxacoricofallapatorius.  
ROSE: Raxacorico  
DOCTOR: fallapatorius.  
ROSE: Raxacoricofallapatorius. That's it! I did it! (They jump about excitedly.) MARGARET: They have the death penalty. (The mood is immediately killed.) MARGARET, CONT’D: The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty with no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor? Take me home and you take me to my death.  
DOCTOR: Not my problem.  
‘Doctor!’ Amy said. It- she would have liked to think her Doctor – Eleven – wasn’t that cold, or callous, of others life. It would seem the effect the Time War had on him was unforgiveable. But she supposed Margaret was about to destroy a planet of which the Doctor was very fond, and maybe she deserved it. But it still-  
It didn’t seem very Doctor-like to just let it happen. To not even try. He killed this woman’s whole family. And yes, they were a danger to others, but… she was losing track.  
The Doctor had mercy, even when it was unfeasible. He always believed people could do better, if only someone gave them the chance. But she remembered in Mercy, his hopelessness as he got into her face- how many people have died because of my mercy?  
She supposed, being a Time Lord, in a time machine, dashing around the universe, you had to be judge, jury, and executioner. You had to tear things, bad things, out at the roots, make sure they could never come back, and never hurt anyone again, and still remain someone others could look up to. What would she have done? Hardened her heart and given her over to her people? Or give her another chance? The more she watched, the more she realised she didn’t really know the Doctor. She knew one version of him in a very long line, and she wasn’t even sure if that was his real self, or if he put on a hero façade to keep little Amelia Pond from despair. River had once told her to hide the damage from him, that he couldn’t cope with it – but River was short-sighted. And wrong. And self-centred.  
It was the Doctor that hid the damage from them, from fragile humans he took throughout the universe to show them, to see, that wonder was still to be found. To keep him a good person. It was the Doctor who had hundreds of years to hide, to weigh him down – and yet he kept the face of a twelve year old, and he tried not to let anything show. Because it scared them, and then they left, and he couldn’t be alone. He’d told her. The wonder of space had gone away from him. He’d suffered too much to see how beautiful it was when a star exploded into a supernova. She supposed that would happen to anyone, if they existed long enough.  
[Tardis]  
(Night has fallen.)  
MARGARET: This ship is impossible. It's superb. How do you get the outside around the inside?  
‘Dimensional engineering.’ Ryan said proudly. Of course, how they did it was a mystery. The Doctor had tried to tell him, but he had fallen asleep halfway through the four-hour speech.  
DOCTOR: Like I'd give you the secret, yeah.  
MARGARET: I almost feel better about being defeated. I never stood a chance. This is the technology of the gods.  
Ten scoffed. ‘They certainly thought so.’  
DOCTOR: Don't worship me - I'd make a very bad god. You wouldn't get a day off, for starters. Jack, how we doing, big fella?  
‘You’re too soft to be a god.’  
JACK: This extrapolator's top of the range. Where did you get it?  
MARGARET: Oh, I don't know. Some airlock sale?  
JACK: Must've been a great big heist. It's stacked with power.  
DOCTOR: But we can use it for fuel?  
JACK: It's not compatible, but it should knock off about twelve hours. We'll be ready to go by morning.  
DOCTOR: Then we're stuck here overnight.  
MARGARET: I'm in no hurry.  
ROSE: We've got a prisoner. The police box is really a police box.  
MARGARET: You're not just police, though. Since you're taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you.  
MICKEY: Well, you deserve it.  
MARGARET: You're very quick to say so. You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood, which makes you better than me, how, exactly? Long night ahead. Let's see who can look me in the eye.  
(No one.)  
‘She was going to burn 7.6 billion people.’ Ryan said determinedly. ‘By sending her to her death, how many planets do you save from her hatred of ants? It’s saving countless. Worth it. I’d look her in the eye. Wouldn’t even blink.’  
‘Yeah, we all know how you feel about it, Ryan.’ Thirteen said, quietly.  
‘One genocidal Slitheen versus entire planets? Yeah, I think they’re a bit less blood-soaked.’ Martha agreed.  
[Roald Dahl Plass]  
(Mickey looks at the water tower. Rose joins him.)  
ROSE: It's freezing out here!  
MICKEY: Better than in there. She does deserve it. She's a Slitheen. I don't care. It's just weird in that box.  
‘Bit more than a box!’ Eleven said, disgruntled.  
ROSE: I didn't really need my passport.  
MICKEY: I've been thinking, you know, we could go have a drink. Have a pizza or something. Just you and me.  
ROSE: That'd be nice.  
MICKEY: And, I mean, if the Tardis can't leave until morning, we could go to a hotel, spend the night. I mean, if you want to. I've got some money.  
ROSE: Okay, yeah.  
MICKEY: Is that all right?  
ROSE: Yeah.  
MICKEY: Cool. There's a couple of bars around here. We should give them a go. Do you have to go and tell him?  
ROSE: It's none of his business.  
They were sort of- awkward. Amy was reminded of how Rory was when he first came into the TARDIS – defensive, suspicious, and outsider. And of course he was suspicious of the Doctor. Young, attractive, in spite of the bowtie and the tweed suggesting sex and romance were far from his mind – damn, she should have realised that earlier – and spiriting his fiancée off to the far reaches of the universe? Anyone would be on edge.  
And she hadn’t done much to help ease him in. She’d been young, yes, young and star struck, but she would regret how she treated him early on for the rest of her life.  
[Tardis]  
(The Doctor watches Mickey and Rose on the scanner.)  
‘You shouldn’t watch people like that, it’s rude!’  
JACK: So, what's on?  
DOCTOR: Nothing, just.  
MARGARET: I gather it's not always like this, having to wait. I bet you're always the first to leave, Doctor. Never mind the consequences, off you go. You butchered my family and then ran for the stars, am I right? But not this time. At last you have consequences. How does it feel?  
The cleric had said a similar thing in the caves beneath the Byzantium. That after the Doctor flew away in his box, he was left with the family of the people the Doctor had failed to save. They were soldiers, of course – they signed up, trained, for dangerous missions – and like Nine had said, he was not a God.  
But it was still raw. The bitterness the woman held had been voiced by many others, whose life had been touched by the Doctor but only briefly, and people who were not to blame for anything wicked. The Doctor did his best. But sometimes his best wasn’t good enough. He was an alien, same as the things he fought.  
Amy supposed, as a human, that she assumed that alien, meant – capable of things humans weren’t, and while that was true, she’d have no way of getting out of three quarters of the things the Doctor found himself in, she often forgot that the Doctor fought aliens. Cleverer, more advanced, older, more – armies- and yes, yes, he had consequences. She had never seen him sleep. Did he dare?  
She imagined she might have been just like the woman, if the Doctor had never come back for her. How her bitterness might have turned to hate, wonder souring as the years passed. She had felt it. She didn’t remember much of the quarantine planet, having been there two times at once, but sometimes, the ghost feelings remained. Sometimes she felt a blistering hatred towards the Doctor – for making her wait. For Melody.  
‘I’m sorry-‘ Eleven stood up. And he was gone, rushing out the door. Amy stood up, meaning to follow- but Clara beat her to it.  
DOCTOR: I didn't butcher them.  
JACK: Don't answer back. That's what she wants.  
‘She just wants to get a rise out of him.’ Rory said hollowly. ‘Like a bully. You did what was right.’  
DOCTOR: I didn't. What about you? You had an emergency teleport. You didn't zap them to safety, did you?  
MARGARET: It only carries one. I had to fly without coordinates. I ended up on a skip in the Isle of Dogs. It wasn't funny.  
DOCTOR: Sorry. It is a bit funny.  
‘Poor Wales.’ Bill said.  
MARGARET: Do I get a last request?  
DOCTOR: Depends what it is.  
MARGARET: I grew quite fond of my little human life. All those rituals. The brushing of the teeth, and the complicated way they cook things. There's a little restaurant just round the Bay. It became quite a favourite of mine.  
DOCTOR: Is that what you want, a last meal?  
MARGARET: Don't I have rights?  
‘I think not!’ Graham said. ‘She’s not a human. No last meal, no phone call, just justice for the people she killed. Husbands. Wives. Children. For them. She should be dealt with, for them.’ He was remembering Grace. How angry he’d felt towards Tim Shaw.  
JACK: Oh, like she's not going to try to escape.  
MARGARET: Except I can never escape the Doctor, so where's the danger? I wonder if you could do it? To sit with a creature you're about to kill and take supper. How strong is your stomach?  
‘It’s lucky you can’t escape the Doctor.’ Mickey said sourly. ‘Otherwise what could you get away with? Obviously the Slitheen family have the death penalty for a reason. Then they escaped it and decided to try and destroy earth. So the Doctor came. Then she escaped, and rather than learning, she decided to try again. She’s had her second chance, and her third. It’s her own fault.’  
DOCTOR: Strong enough.  
MARGARET: I wonder. I've seen you fight your enemies, now dine with them.  
DOCTOR: You won't change my mind.  
MARGARET: Prove it.  
DOCTOR: There are people out there. If you slip away just for one second, they'll be in danger.  
JACK: Except I've got these.  
(Jack holds up two bangles.)  
JACK: You both wear one. If she moves more than ten feet away, she gets zapped by ten thousand volts.  
DOCTOR: Margaret, would you like to come out to dinner? My treat.  
MARGARET: Dinner in bondage. Works for me.  
(And so Jack is left to carry on mending the Tardis whilst the two couples go out for their dinners.)  
‘That showed her.’ Martha said. ‘I don’t care how big her claws are, she won’t get under the Doctor’s skin.’  
[Bistro 10]  
MARGARET: Here we are, out on a date, and you haven't even asked my proper name.  
DOCTOR: It's not a date. What's your name?  
‘Oh, gross.’ Amy said.  
MARGARET: Blon. I am Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen. That's what it'll say on my death certificate.  
‘Blimey, who has time to say that?’  
DOCTOR: Nice to meet you, Blon.  
MARGARET: I'm sure. Look, that's where I was living as Margaret. Nice little flat, over there, on the top. Next to the one with the light on.  
(The Doctor turns to look and she puts some powder from her ring into his wine.)  
‘Doctor-‘ Rory said, alarmed. If she poisoned the Doctor, it would be easy for her to escape.  
MARGARET: Two bedrooms, bayside view. I was rather content. Don't suppose I'll see it again.  
(The Doctor swaps the glasses over.)  
DOCTOR: Suppose not.  
MARGARET: Thank you.  
DOCTOR: Pleasure.  
MARGARET: Tell me then, Doctor. What do you know of our species?  
DOCTOR: Only what I've seen.  
MARGARET: Did you know, for example, in extreme cases, when her life is in danger, a female Raxacoricofallapatorian can manufacture a poison dart within her own finger.  
(She points. The dart flies and the Doctor catches it.)  
DOCTOR: Yes, I did.  
MARGARET: Just checking. And one more thing. between you and me.  
(They look around then lean forward so Margaret can whisper.)  
MARGARET: As a final resort, the excess poison can be exhaled through the lungs.  
(Margaret starts to exhale. The Doctor uses a breath freshener on her.)  
DOCTOR: That's better. Now then, what do you think? Mmm, steak looks nice. Steak and chips.  
Yaz found herself grinning in spite of everything.  
[Mermaid Quayside]  
ROSE: The Doctor took me to this planet a while back. It was much colder than this. They called it Woman Wept. The planet was actually called Woman Wept, because if you looked at it, right, from above, there's like this huge continent, like all curved round. It sort of looked like a woman, you know, lamenting. Oh my God, and we went to this beach, right. No people, no buildings, just this beach like a thousand miles across. And something had happened, something to do with the sun, I don't know, but the sea had just frozen. In a split second, in the middle of a storm, right, waves and foam, just frozen, all the way out to the horizon. Midnight, right, we walk underneath these waves a hundred feet tall, made of ice.  
‘Hey, we went there.’ Martha said. ‘Wait-‘  
MICKEY: I'm going out with Trisha Delaney.  
ROSE: Right. That's nice. Trisha from the shop?  
MICKEY: Yeah, Rob Delany's sister.  
ROSE: Well, she's nice. She's a bit big.  
MICKEY: She lost weight. You've been away.  
ROSE: Well, good for you. She's nice.  
MICKEY: So, tell us more about this planet, then.  
ROSE: That was it, really.  
Amy found herself cringing slightly at the awkwardness, as Rose clearly thought her and Mickey were still a thing, and that’s why she’d asked him here.  
MARGARET: Public execution's a slow death. They prepare a thin acetic acid, lower me into the cauldron and boil me. The acidity is perfectly gauged to strip away the skin. Internal organs fall out into the liquid, and I become soup. And still alive, still screaming.  
‘Oh, that’s just mean.’ Clara said, wondering back in, Eleven in tow. ‘There’s no need for that, unless they like…eat babies.’  
She caught Eleven’s eye.  
‘They don’t...?’ She pulled a face. ‘I suppose that’s not surprising.’  
DOCTOR: I don't make the law.  
MARGARET: But you deliver it. Will you stay to watch?  
DOCTOR: What else can I do?  
MARGARET: The Slitheen family's huge. There's a lot more of us, all scattered off-world. Take me to them. Take me somewhere safe.  
DOCTOR: But then you'll just start again.  
MARGARET: I promise I won't.  
DOCTOR: You've been in that skin suit too long. You've forgotten. There used to be a real Margaret Blaine. You killed her and stripped her and used the skin. You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips.  
MARGARET: Perhaps I have got used to it. A human life, an ordinary life. That's all I'm asking. Give me a chance, Doctor. I can change.  
DOCTOR: I don't believe you.  
So, when faced with consequences, the Doctor went through with other peoples. If he had to deal with someone more than once – his mercy was gone. No wonder the Daleks made him so angry.  
[Mermaid Quayside]  
MICKEY: So, what do you want to do now?  
ROSE: Don't mind.  
MICKEY: We could ask about hotels.  
ROSE: What would Trisha Delaney say?  
Rose winced at how childish she sounded. She hadn’t treated Mickey very well at all.  
MICKEY: Suppose. There's a bar down there with a Spanish name or something  
ROSE: You don't even like Trisha Delaney!  
MICKEY: Oh, is that right? What the hell do you know?  
ROSE: I know you, And I know her. And I know that's never going to happen. So who do you think you're kidding?  
MICKEY: At least I know where she is!  
ROSE: There we are, then. It's got nothing to do with Trisha. This is all about me, isn't it  
MICKEY: You left me! We were nice, we were happy. And then what? You give me a kiss and you run off with him, and you make me feel like nothing, Rose. I was nothing. I can't even go out with a stupid girl from a shop because you pick up the phone and I comes running. I mean, is that what I am, Rose, standby? Am I just supposed to sit here for the rest of my life, waiting for you? Because I will.  
ROSE: I'm sorry.  
‘Wait.’ Amy said quietly, almost to herself. ‘Doctor… is that why you bought Rory? So that wouldn’t happen to me? Us breaking up?’  
Because one half travelling – witnessing the magic of the adventure – and the other left behind on earth – that would break down any relationship. The Doctor had seen it happen, had seen Rose leave Mickey behind for him, fall in love with him, and as soon as she’d kissed him he’d realised he couldn’t let that happen again, and bought Rory on board. She couldn’t imagine life without Rory – but if she’d left him behind, she would eventually have barely been able to remember life with him. Mickey obviously deserved to move on from Rose, but his declaration that he would wait for her…well, that struck a cord.  
Rory would have waited for her, however long she strung him along for. Would have been there the sparing times she ventured home. And it wasn’t fair. She had been selfish. The Doctor, as ever, had been selfless. Had thought ahead, solved the problem, dealt with Rory’s distrust. God, she loved them. Her boys.  
[Bistro 10]  
MARGARET: I promise you I've changed since we last met, Doctor. There was this girl, just today. A young thing, something of a danger. She was getting too close. I felt the blood lust rising, just as the family taught me, I was going to kill her without a thought. And then I stopped. She's alive somewhere right now. She's walking around this city because I can change. I did change. I know I can't prove it  
DOCTOR: I believe you.  
MARGARET: Then you know I'm capable of better.  
DOCTOR: It doesn't mean anything.  
MARGARET: I spared her life.  
DOCTOR: You let one of them go, but that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared because she smiled, because he's got freckles, because they begged. And that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction, you happen to be kind.  
Amy felt her eyes widen, a chill down her spine. The Doctor said it with such casual conviction. He knew. But the Doctor didn’t kill people. He pressed one button, one time, and there was no chance there to let anyone go. So he must be recounting behaviour he’d seen in others. He’d come close enough to murderers of that degree that he knew exactly how they got away from him. And he so wished they felt guilt, guilt like he did – that they had to find some desperate way of dealing with it, like he did.  
He didn’t want to accept people could do what he did without guilt. He wanted to believe they were all better than that.  
MARGARET: Only a killer would know that. Is that right? From what I've seen, your funny little happy go lucky little life leaves devastation in its wake. Always moving on because you dare not look back. Playing with so many peoples lives, you might as well be a god. And you're right, Doctor. You're absolutely right. Sometimes you let one go. Let me go.  
‘It only leaves devastation if you’re evil.’ Rose snapped. ‘If you’re a good person, you’ve nothing to fear from the Doctor.’  
[Mermaid Quayside]  
MICKEY: I'm not asking you to leave him, because I know that's not fair. But I just need something, yeah? Some sort of promise that when you do come back, you're coming back for me.  
(Deep rumble.)  
ROSE: Is that thunder?  
MICKEY: Does it matter?  
ROSE: That's not thunder.  
[Bistro 10]  
MARGARET: In the family Slitheen, we had no choice. I was made to carry out my first kill at thirteen. If I'd refused, my father would have fed me to the Venom Grubs. If I'm a killer, it's because I was born to kill. It's all I know. Doctor, are you even listening to me?  
‘That’s horrible.’ Martha said. ‘Maybe…’  
DOCTOR: Can you hear that?  
MARGARET: I'm begging for my life.  
DOCTOR: No, listen, shush.  
(The glasses begin to vibrate, then the plate glass window shatters. Customers scream.)  
[Mermaid Quayside]  
(People flee the exploding street lights and windows. Rose runs.)  
MICKEY: Oh, go on then, run! It's him again, isn't it? It's the Doctor! It's always the Doctor! It's always going to be the Doctor. It's never me!  
Amy clutched at Rory’s hand. Things had turned out fine. She’d managed to have him and the Doctor- that came out wrong, but the Doctor had sat them both down and explained, rather excruciatingly, that this regeneration had zero interest in that sort of thing and Amy had thought she was going to die from embarrassment – and not trample over people’s feelings in a way that couldn’t be talked out. They’d been in couple’s therapy for a while, and it seemed to be working.  
[Roald Dahl Plass]  
(Margaret can't keep up with the Doctor.)  
MARGARET: The handcuffs!  
(He waits for her, then takes it off.)  
DOCTOR: Don't think you're running away.  
MARGARET: Oh, I'm sticking with you. Some date this turned out to be!  
(Energy is streaming from the Tardis into the sky.)  
DOCTOR: It's the rift. The rift's opening!  
‘Safest place to be.’ Martha said. Sort of. Objectively. Safe was relative.  
[Tardis]  
(Things are going sput! Cracks open up in the plaza.)  
DOCTOR: What the hell are you doing??  
JACK: It just went crazy!  
DOCTOR: It's the rift. Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city's going to disappear!  
‘Well, that rings a few bells. Most of them alarm.’ Rory said sarcastically.  
(Bang! Rose runs into the plaza and sees what is happening.)  
JACK: It's the extrapolator. I've disconnected it but it's still feeding off the engine! It's using the Tardis. I can't stop it!  
DOCTOR: Never mind Cardiff, it's going to rip open the planet.  
(Rose enters.)  
ROSE: What is it? What's happening?!  
MARGARET: Oh, just little me.  
(Margaret takes an arm out of her body suit and grabs Rose.)  
MARGARET: One wrong move and she snaps like a promise.  
‘Okay, from a life-not-in-danger-anymore standpoint, I have to admit that’s pretty funny.’ Rose said.  
DOCTOR: I might've known.  
MARGARET: I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it. You, fly boy, put the extrapolator at my feet.  
‘Again.’ Clara said. ‘Gross.’  
(Margaret tightens her grip on Rose's neck. The Doctor nods and Jack obeys.)  
MARGARET: Thank you. Just as I planned.  
ROSE: I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station.  
MARGARET: Failing that, if I were to be arrested, then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan B. To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift. And what a power source it found. I'm back on schedule, thanks to you.  
JACK: The rift's going to convulse. You'll destroy the whole planet.  
MARGARET: And you with it!  
(Margaret stands on the extrapolator.)  
MARGARET: While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back, boys. Surf's up.  
(The Tardis console cracks open and bright light hits Margaret.)  
DOCTOR: Of course, opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart.  
MARGARET: So sue me.  
DOCTOR: It's not just any old power source. It's the Tardis. My Tardis. The best ship in the universe.  
‘You two need infinite rooms.’ Amy said teasingly.  
MARGARET: It'll make wonderful scrap.  
ROSE: What's that light?  
DOCTOR: The heart of the Tardis. This ship's alive. You've opened its soul.  
MARGARET: It's so bright.  
DOCTOR: Look at it, Margaret.  
MARGARET: Beautiful.  
DOCTOR: Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light.  
(Margaret relaxes and Rose gets free. Then she looks up at the Doctor, smiling.)  
MARGARET: Thank you.  
(Margaret disappears into the light. The empty bodysuit crumples onto the extrapolator.)  
DOCTOR: Don't look. Stay there. Close your eyes!  
(The Doctor closes the console.)  
DOCTOR: Now, Jack, come on, shut it all down. Shut down! Rose, that panel over there, turn all the switches to the right.  
(Energy stops pouring into the sky.)  
DOCTOR: Nicely done. Thank you, all.  
ROSE: What happened to Margaret?  
JACK: Must've got burnt up. Carried out her own death sentence.  
DOCTOR: No, I don't think she's dead.  
ROSE: Then where'd she go?  
DOCTOR: She looked into the heart of the Tardis. Even I don't know how strong that is. And the ship's telepathic, like I told you, Rose. Gets inside your head. Translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts.  
‘I suppose you find out.’ Rose mumbled. ‘How strong it is.’ And of course, Rose’s “raw thoughts” were – save the Doctor. At all costs.  
(The Doctor finds a large egg with dreadlocks on the top inside the bodysuit.)  
DOCTOR: Here she is.  
ROSE: She's an egg?  
DOCTOR: Regressed to her childhood.  
JACK: She's an egg?  
DOCTOR: She can start again. Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be all right!  
JACK: Or she might be worse.  
DOCTOR: That's her choice.  
ROSE: She's an egg.  
DOCTOR: She's an egg.  
Amy and Clara found themselves grinning happily; the Doctor was restored. Margaret had another chance. The Doctor had listened – he’d remembered her name, of course he had. Even when he delivered her to her death, he would make sure he knew her. Because the Doctor was kind, where he could be. Kinder than all of them.  
ROSE: Oh, my God. Mickey.  
(Rose runs out and across the cracked plaza, back to Mermaid Quay where ambulances are taking away the injured. Mickey is watching from the shadows as she goes up to a paramedic and asks a question. Mickey walks away. She returns to the Tardis alone.)  
‘I was in one of those Ambulances.’ Clara said, matter-of-factly. ‘I died though.’  
‘What?!’ Rose said sharply.  
‘It’s a long story. You’ll probably find out.’  
DOCTOR: We're all powered up. We can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy. We can go, if that's all right.  
ROSE: Yeah, fine.  
DOCTOR: How's Mickey?  
ROSE: He's okay. He's gone.  
DOCTOR: Do you want to go and find him? We'll wait.  
ROSE: No need. He deserves better.  
DOCTOR: Off we go, then. Always moving on  
JACK: Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorius. Now you don't often get to say that.  
DOCTOR: We'll just stop by and pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again. A second chance.  
ROSE: That'd be nice.  
The episode cut to black on the sombre note of Rose examining her choices – but Mickey walked over and gave her a hug.  
‘I don’t blame you.’ He said. ‘We’re good, Rose. I swear.’  
And she smiled at Martha. He did deserve better. He deserved Martha – more than the Doctor, at any rate.


End file.
